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The Salamanca City Central School District in rural New York has suspended its initiative to deploy an artificial intelligence-powered robot instructor while officials examine privacy safeguards. The district’s board had greenlit a roughly $60,000 expenditure for the humanoid robot, manufactured by Realbotix, which would function as a classroom tutor and also interact with students via their personal computers.
Named Sally, the robot features synthetic skin and brown hair and remains stationary while performing facial expressions and movements with its upper body. Designed to supplement rather than supplant human educators, the device would recall past exchanges with individual students and customize instructional content based on each learner’s academic progress and needs.
The rollout has triggered significant backlash rooted in two distinct concerns. Realbotix operates under a parent company that maintains financial ties to RealDoll, a manufacturer known for producing sex robots and related products—a connection the company disputes, asserting its educational and commercial divisions operate independently with distinct product lines and no shared operations.
The school district cited student data protection as the immediate reason for the pause, announcing it would work with state education authorities on strengthened privacy agreements and community engagement. According to reports, Sally is programmed to avoid inappropriate subject matter including sexual content, violence and gambling, storing all information locally rather than accessing the public internet or unvetted artificial intelligence platforms.
Superintendent Mark Beehler emphasized that the robot could never replace classroom teachers. “Teaching is a human-to-human process,” he stated, while noting the rural district’s students lack convenient access to emerging technologies that might prepare them for future careers in robotics and related fields.
Realbotix acknowledged the pause and committed to establishing appropriate data privacy protocols with the district and state education officials. The company clarified that the physical unit would operate entirely within school systems without internet connectivity, would not record audio or video, and would not retain any personally identifiable student information.
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