A small school district on a Native American reservation in Western New York is about to become one of the first in the country to put a humanoid robot in the classroom. Starting this fall, Salamanca City Central School District will introduce Sally, a lifelike robot with silicone skin and upper-body movements, along with an AI avatar assistant that students can access on laptops. The district purchased the robot and software from Realbotix for $57,590, a discounted price from the company's standard $95,000 starting cost.

The move reflects a growing willingness among some educators to embrace AI as a teaching tool, even as other school systems are pumping the brakes. But it also raises a fundamental question: as schools rush to adopt AI, are they actually addressing what students need to succeed?

What Will the Robot Actually Do in the Classroom?

Sally won't replace teachers. Instead, the robot is designed to provide personalized learning support during AI and robotics courses, which use curriculum developed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to prepare students for high-demand tech jobs. The robot will remember previous conversations with individual students and can offer real-time translations in over 100 languages, generate custom lessons on topics that interest students, and provide feedback on homework photos uploaded through the avatar.

The district plans to expand the robot to other high school classes if the pilot succeeds. Students will use unique identification codes to interact with Sally, allowing the system to track their learning progress and tailor responses based on past conversations. Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler emphasized that the district chose to teach proper use of technology rather than ban it outright, noting that "students will find a way around most rules that schools put in place".

Safety guardrails are built into the system. The robot and avatar operate on a closed network not connected to the internet, and Realbotix trained them to say "I don't know" rather than generate false information, a problem known as "AI hallucinations." References to suicide, self-harm, or other flagged terms automatically alert school administrators.

How Should Schools Actually Use AI to Support Learning?

• Differentiated Support: AI can provide feedback, translate across languages, and offer tutoring when human support isn't available, making education more personalized for individual learners.
• Rethinking Assessment: AI tools can help educators transform how they measure learning, moving beyond traditional tests to capture deeper understanding of student thinking.
• Preparing for a Changing World: Rather than focusing only on knowledge accumulation, schools should use AI to free up time for teaching agency, judgment, curiosity, creativity, ethical reasoning, and collaboration.

These insights come from Isabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, who has spent years studying how technology and brain science can create more inclusive learning solutions. In a recent podcast conversation, Hau outlined three ways AI could reshape education.

"AI has the potential to reshape how we learn, how we teach, and how we support our students and families," said Isabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning.

Isabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning

But Hau also stressed something more fundamental: the future of education isn't about what AI can do. It's about what humans need to become.

Is AI Preparing Students for the Jobs That Actually Exist?

Here's where the conversation gets interesting. Hau introduced a concept called "relational intelligence," which she defines as the human capacity to relate to one another, make meaning together, collaborate across differences, and address complex societal issues collectively. This matters because the job market is shifting in ways that most schools haven't fully grasped.

Research by economist David Deming at Harvard University found something counterintuitive: a person with high social skills and low math skills does much better in employment and wages than someone with low social skills and high math skills. That gap has been widening for the past 20 to 30 years. More recently, an economist at the University of Chicago projected that by 2050, jobs in what he calls the "relational sector" will represent nearly 50 percent of all employment. These include education, care work, health professions like physical therapy, and mental health services.

"A future with AI will require us to recognize our human capacity to relate to one another across differences and address complex societal issues collectively," explained Isabelle Hau.

Isabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning

This suggests that while Salamanca's robot can help students learn robotics and coding, the real competitive advantage won't come from mastering what AI can do. It will come from developing the distinctly human skills that AI cannot replicate.

Who Benefits, and Who Gets Left Behind?

Salamanca serves roughly 1,300 students, with 32 percent identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native and 79 percent economically disadvantaged. The district's embrace of AI technology has sparked debate. Some see it as a forward-thinking investment in preparing rural students for tech careers. Others worry about the implications of further integrating AI into schools that already face significant challenges.

Local parent Sierra Abrams expressed skepticism in a Facebook post, saying, "We already have so many issues in our community, including environmental issues. I just don't understand the concept of adding AI onto that". Her concern touches on a broader tension: when schools adopt expensive new technologies, are they addressing the most pressing needs of their students?

Hau's work on student parents offers a clue. She noted that student parents in higher education face fragmented systems around child care, course scheduling, financial aid, transportation, and basic needs. "We are essentially asking student parents to navigate a complexity that the system itself created," she said. The same principle applies to K-12 education. Before investing in robots, schools might ask: Are we solving the problems that actually prevent students from learning?

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The broader context matters too. The Trump administration has promoted expanded use of AI in education, with First Lady Melania Trump highlighting robots as tools for teaching literature, science, art, and philosophy. At the same time, parent groups are pushing for stronger oversight of AI in schools, and New York City Public Schools announced a purchasing freeze on educational technology until it finalizes guidance on artificial intelligence.

Salamanca's experiment will offer real-world data on whether humanoid robots and AI avatars actually improve learning outcomes in a rural, under-resourced school. But the deeper question, according to experts like Hau, is whether schools are using AI to amplify what makes human education powerful, or whether they're replacing the relational work that students need most.