A humanoid robot named Sally was supposed to live in a Western New York high school classroom in the fall, silicone skin, long brown hair, and all. Instead he is still standing.
The plan that quietly removed the Salamanca school board in June turned, in the weeks that followed, into a public battle over student privacy, screen time, and the company that built it, and the state’s top education official has now asked the district to wait.
The Salamanca City Central School District sits on the Seneca Nation reservation in the rural southwest of the state and educates about 1,300 students, about one-third of whom identify as American Indian or Alaska Native.
It announced the temporary suspension Friday, after a letter from New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa.
“The Department is still concerned about the impact the robot may have in the high school classroom,” Rosa wrote, adding that many parents, teachers and stakeholders were like that “There is understandably concern about the presence of artificial intelligence technology in classrooms.”
💜 for EU tech
The latest talk from the EU tech scene, a story from our genius founder Boris, and some incredible AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Register now!
It is the uneasiness that has followed AI in schools beyond Salamanca.
Sally is the work of Realbotix, a Toronto company that has spent the past year arguing that friendly, portable robots belong in the classroom instead of the lab.
The district paid $57,590 for the robot and AI teacher’s assistant, a discount from the $95,000 list price, and planned to use her in high school AI and robotics courses built around a curriculum from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Sally stays seated but moves her upper body and face, and the district says she has no facial recognition, no recordings, and uses a closed network with no internet.
Besides the robot itself, the package also included an AI assistant students could access as an avatar on their laptops, offering homework help, feedback, and real-time translation in more than 100 languages.
What made the humble pilot in the world story was less hardware than a manufacturer’s list. Realbotix, formerly known as Tokens.com, acquired Simulcra in 2024, the parent company of RealDoll, which makes realistic sex dolls and companion robots.
Realbotix says the two divisions don’t have the staff, facilities, or technology, and they want to separate completely by September, but the association is enough to sway the teachers unions.
“A robot made by a sex doll company has no business in our classrooms,” said Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers.
Superintendent Mark Beehler defended the project as a lesson in living through technology rather than pretense.
“Many schools take the simple solution of simply banning,” he said, “But I found that the students will find a way to follow the many rules that the schools set.”
He emphasized that Realbotix would not have access to personally identifiable student information, and that Sally was not intended to replace a teacher, but sat next to one.
In Salamanca itself, opinions were mixed, with some parents embracing early exposure to AI as a way to a future career and others questioning why the district was buying a robot rather than hiring more teachers.
The department hasn’t been persuaded, at least not yet, and the concerns you’ve raised are those that are now the shadow of any classroom technology: data protection, screen time, and whether the tools are even kid-friendly.
Half of American parents are already concerned that their children are becoming too dependent on AI, and researchers have separately flagged the dangers to students of general-purpose AI entering schoolwork.
Salamanca said he will use the leave to work on improved student data privacy agreements and continue talking with parents before deciding what to do next.
Meanwhile, Sally is waiting. The CEO of Realbotix, Andrew Kiguel, wrote to reconcile, saying that the company wants this plan to be done. “it is demonstrably safe, fully accredited by the district, and strongly supported by teachers.”
Whether the classrooms in Salamanca get their robot in the fall, or at all, is no longer a matter for our school to settle on.
