A humanoid robot is being introduced as part of a pilot program, along with an AI teaching assistant, at Salamanca High School in Salamanca, New York, located on the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation.
Teachers have criticised the program, deeming it “inappropriate” and claiming it dehumanises the profession with the introduction of human-like robots. Some local Native American residents have also criticised the pilot program, calling its implementation “culturally tone deaf”, The Guardian reports.
The robot, named Sally, was purchased by the Cattaraugus County school district, which includes Salamanca High School, for $57,590. According to a presentation on the program, Sally will be a closed-loop system but available virtually to students 24/7 and offers personalised learning options. The district will be the first in the US to deploy a humanoid robot and AI teaching assistant, according to a Realbotix press release.
Lacey Pihlblad, president of the Salamanca Teachers’ Association and a teacher at the high school, said, “There’s a growing consensus that indicates our students should be exposed to less technology. Placing a humanoid robot into the classroom to interact with our children, I believe, is a massive step in the wrong direction, and I believe that the majority of our teachers feel the same.”
She added, “If we’re going to do something of this magnitude, I feel we need to make sure that we do it the correct way, and I’m not sure that that’s currently what’s in place.” Pihlblad said the union was completing negotiations for a new contract and intended to include protections around artificial intelligence.
Melinda Person, president of the New York State United Teachers, told the Guardian teachers across the state were concerned. “Our members in Salamanca and educators across the state are sounding the alarm that this is really inappropriate,” she said. “I would say our initial reaction is this is kind of creepy.” She added it was “way out of the realm of what we should be doing in our schools”.
“The answer to the challenges in education is not more screens, it’s not more algorithms, not more robots. What we need in our schools right now are more caring adults and more human connection,” she said.
The Realbotix press release said the Salamanca pilot also includes deployment of a Realbotix M-Series humanoid robot using natural conversation, facial expressions and real-time interaction to create engaging, hands-on learning experiences. Realbotix, formerly Tokens.com, bought Simulacra, a Las Vegas company known for realistic sex dolls, for $16.7m in April 2024, marking its shift from crypto to humanoid robots. The company denied links between the pilot and the dolls manufactured by Abyss Creations, its subsidiary.
Pihlblad said teachers were concerned about Realbotix’s background, software security, data storage, data collection and recording capabilities. She urged the district to pause implementation of both the robot and AI software until more people could weigh in. She said New York state was moving away from excessive classroom technology, adding that teachers were pro-child rather than anti-technology and supported only measures benefiting students. “Putting a lifeless machine in front of students is a bad idea,” she said, arguing that replacing human interaction with a robot would dehumanise education.
Local residents also questioned selecting a school with a significant Native American population for the pilot. A Realbotix spokesperson said the fall 2026 pilot involving Optio, an AI-powered educational assistant, and one M-Series humanoid unit was intended to complement, not replace, teachers while giving students supervised access to AI and robotics.
The assistant commissioner of public affairs for the New York state department of education, JP O’Hare, said the agency had been in contact with the school district regarding its purchase of a robot and has raised serious concerns about student privacy, appropriate safeguards, and the risk that the robot could be used to perform functions that should remain the responsibility of trained, qualified professionals.
