A New York school district has put the rollout of a humanoid teaching assistant on hold after parents and teachers raised concerns that its manufacturer is affiliated with the company behind “hyper-realistic sexbots.”
Salamanca City Central School District purchased the Realbotix robot, named “Sally,” for $57,590 to assist 11th- and 12th-grade coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence classes. The stationary humanoid robot has silicone skin and long brown hair, and can move its upper body and make facial expressions
The project, however, drew backlash after parents and teachers learned that Realbotix is affiliated with RealDoll, a company known for manufacturing AI-powered sex dolls that it bills as the “world’s most advanced sex robot,” according to ABC News.
“A robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms,” New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person said.
Parents also questioned how students’ personal information would be collected, stored, and used if they log into the robot, which was designed to provide individualized tutoring and support.
Realbotix said it operates independently from RealDoll despite the affiliation, maintaining separate “management, personnel, payroll, facilities, manufacturing operations, product development, and market strategies,” per ABC News. The company also rejected suggestions that “Sally” is a repurposed sex doll, arguing that the robot is “newly manufactured” specifically for educational use.
The district since paused the rollout last week while it works with state education officials on what it described as “enhanced student data privacy agreements.”
Salamanca City Central School District serves about 1,300 students on the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Roughly 32% of students identify as Native American, and about 79% are considered economically disadvantaged.
State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa also expressed concerns after reviewing the proposal.
“Although you confirmed that the robot would not have any role delivering classroom instruction, a recent presentation to the board characterized the robot as a ‘tutoring platform,’” Rosa wrote in a letter to the district.
Lacey Pihlblad, president of the Salamanca Teachers’ Association and a teacher at the high school, said educators also worried about how student information would be handled.
“We’re very concerned about the security of the software that they’re implementing, and whether or not the data will be stored, how it will be gathered, [and] the recording capabilities,” she said.
The teachers union also argued that students need “real relationships with caring adults” and raised the possibility that AI tools could eventually replace educators.
Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler rejected those concerns, saying “Sally” was intended to serve as a virtual tutoring assistant rather than replace teachers.
“There is no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school,” Beehler said. “Even if it were possible, it would in no way be in the best interest of students. Teaching is a human-to-human process.”
Beehler added that the district selected Realbotix because the company’s robots come preprogrammed with Woz Ed, the K-12 education platform created by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak that the district already uses.
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