Teachers union demands pause on humanoid robot in New York high school

Nearly 40% of students are Native American; critics say pilot is ‘culturally tone deaf’

The Salamanca City Central School District in western New York plans to become the first in the United States to deploy a humanoid robot and an AI teaching assistant in a classroom, according to a press release from Realbotix, the Toronto-based company that created the robot. The pilot, scheduled for fall 2026, has drawn swift opposition from the teachers union, Native American residents, and state education officials.

The robot, named Sally, is a Realbotix M-Series humanoid equipped with natural conversation, facial expressions, and real-time interaction capabilities. The district purchased the unit for $57,590. The pilot also includes access to Optio, an AI-powered educational assistant available to students virtually around the clock.

Nearly 40% of Salamanca High School’s student body are Native American, and the school sits on the Allegany territory of the Seneca Nation. The Seneca Nation declined to comment on the program.

Lacey Pihlblad, president of the Salamanca Teachers’ Association and a teacher at the high school, said the union is concerned about the background of Realbotix, the security of the software, and how student data will be collected and stored. “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, are the recording capabilities,” she said. Pihlblad said the union is completing negotiations for a new contract and intends to include protections around artificial intelligence.

Melinda Pearson, president of the New York State United Teachers, the parent union, said the response from educators across the state has been that the program is “really inappropriate.” “Our members in Salamanca and educators across the state are sounding the alarm that this is really inappropriate,” Pearson said. “I would say our initial reaction is this is kind of creepy.” Pearson argued that the answer to challenges in education is not more screens, algorithms, or robots, but “more caring adults and more human connection.”

Sierra May Abrams, a substitute teacher at Salamanca High and a local resident, criticized the selection of a school with a large Native American population for the pilot. “Out of all the schools in New York state, let alone in the US, they chose to experiment on Native American children yet again,” she said. She pointed to the legacy of the Native American boarding schools and said the pilot feels like “history repeating itself.”

Alyson Brown, a community health specialist and Seneca Nation member who graduated from Salamanca, said several students have connections to relatives who attended the Thomas Indian School on the Cattaraugus territory. “Many native families are viewing this pilot program as history repeating itself,” Brown said. “I see nothing positive to come from this being introduced in the classroom setting.”

Realbotix acquired Simulacra, a Las Vegas-based company known for realistic sex dolls, for $16.7 million in April 2024, according to the Guardian. The company has denied ties between that product line and the school pilot program. A Realbotix spokesperson did not comment on the criticisms from teachers and Native American residents but said the program is “intended to complement, not replace, teachers” by giving students supervised access to emerging AI and robotics tools as part of the district’s existing STEM curriculum. The spokesperson added that the partnership gives educators an opportunity to evaluate the technologies in a controlled classroom environment under district oversight.

The New York State Education Department said it has been in contact with the school district and has raised serious concerns about student privacy, appropriate safeguards, and the risk that the robot could be used to perform functions that should remain the responsibility of trained, qualified professionals. “Technology can and should support educators and students, but it should not replace the human judgment or accountability essential to a safe and effective learning environment,” said JP O’Hare, assistant commissioner of public affairs for the department.

The Salamanca City Central School District and Superintendent Mark Beehler did not respond to multiple requests for comment.