New York State United Teachers asked state education officials to create enforceable statewide rules for AI in public schools after Salamanca City School District paused a plan to place an AI-powered humanoid robot named Sally in a high school classroom. The union sent a letter to state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa after New York Focus reported earlier this month that the western New York district planned to use the Realbotix robot as a teaching aide in AI and robotics courses.

Salamanca City School District in Cattaraugus County had planned to put Sally, a female-appearing robot with silicone skin, long brown hair and a moving upper body, in a classroom to interact with students and provide educational assistance through a proprietary AI platform. The robot was intended to support AI and robotics courses meant to prepare students for jobs in the tech field, and the product also included a web-based platform for interacting with the AI away from the physical robot.

The plan drew mixed reactions across New York and led state officials to intervene. The Department of Education met with district leaders, and within 24 hours of that meeting the district announced the project would be paused. NYSUT opposed the robot’s use, saying the project had moved ahead without community input and arguing that classroom technology can often hurt learning.

NYSUT President Melinda Person wrote that the pause and review in Salamanca may not be enough to decide whether AI-powered learning tools belong in schools. Person said no New York law, regulation or state policy stopped Sally, and that without an investigative news story, parents and educators who read it, and a commissioner’s letter, the robot would have been in front of students this September with no rule requiring questions first.

Person said officials should have asked whether the robot met safety, security and licensing standards, whether it would report abuse it witnessed or learned about, what data safety and monitoring rules Realbotix follows, and how the AI platform would be kept from hallucinating incorrect information. NYSUT called for clear statewide guardrails, with heightened protections when AI is humanoid, embodied or designed to mimic human relationships, while saying it does not oppose students learning how AI works or how to build and use it.

New York State United Teachers asked state education officials to create enforceable statewide rules for AI in public schools after Salamanca City School District paused a plan to place an AI-powered humanoid robot named Sally in a high school classroom. The union sent a letter to state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa after New York Focus reported earlier this month that the western New York district planned to use the Realbotix robot as a teaching aide in AI and robotics courses.

Salamanca City School District in Cattaraugus County had planned to put Sally, a female-appearing robot with silicone skin, long brown hair and a moving upper body, in a classroom to interact with students and provide educational assistance through a proprietary AI platform. The robot was intended to support AI and robotics courses meant to prepare students for jobs in the tech field, and the product also included a web-based platform for interacting with the AI away from the physical robot.

The plan drew mixed reactions across New York and led state officials to intervene. The Department of Education met with district leaders, and within 24 hours of that meeting the district announced the project would be paused. NYSUT opposed the robot’s use, saying the project had moved ahead without community input and arguing that classroom technology can often hurt learning.

NYSUT President Melinda Person wrote that the pause and review in Salamanca may not be enough to decide whether AI-powered learning tools belong in schools. Person said no New York law, regulation or state policy stopped Sally, and that without an investigative news story, parents and educators who read it, and a commissioner’s letter, the robot would have been in front of students this September with no rule requiring questions first.

Person said officials should have asked whether the robot met safety, security and licensing standards, whether it would report abuse it witnessed or learned about, what data safety and monitoring rules Realbotix follows, and how the AI platform would be kept from hallucinating incorrect information. NYSUT called for clear statewide guardrails, with heightened protections when AI is humanoid, embodied or designed to mimic human relationships, while saying it does not oppose students learning how AI works or how to build and use it.