Overview
- Altus Schools bought two Ameca humanoid robots for $500,000 and began introducing them to students in January as a supervised research pilot that the district says will continue through Fall 2026.
- The robots run large language models commonly described as ChatGPT and switch between four personas — tutor, wellness coach, college and career planner, and translator — to interact one‑on‑one with pupils.
- School officials say students will never be left alone with the machines, staff will supervise every session, and session memory is cleared after each interaction to protect privacy.
- Early classroom demonstrations were glitchy with interruptions, fast speech and repeated prompts required, and researchers warn there is no independent evidence that embodied AI improves learning while raising risks to wellbeing, critical thinking and teacher‑student relationships.
- The purchase has renewed questions about equity and priorities in a network serving many high‑need students and sits against wider trends of rapid AI adoption in schools and divergent government responses overseas.