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NYSUT releases open letter regarding Salamanca schools’ AI robot and questions that need to be answered to protect students
New York State United Teachers today called on the state to establish enforceable statewide guardrails for artificial intelligence in schools with heightened protections for AI that is humanoid or built to mimic human relationships. In an open letter to State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa, Chancellor Lester W. Young, Jr. and the members of the Board of Regents, copied to Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislators. The letter thanks the Department for its swift action in Salamanca, where the district on Friday paused its plan to place “Sally,” a lifelike AI robot marketed as a “teacher’s assistant,” in a high school classroom.
But the pause was voluntary, the letter warns. The manufacturer, which calls Salamanca its “flagship deployment,” has promised more classroom robots to come. “What stopped this robot was a news story, alarmed parents and educators, and a Commissioner’s letter — not any law or policy of this state, because none exists,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person. “Before the next lifelike robot is unboxed in a New York classroom, every question in this letter must be answered fully, publicly and in writing. No student should be the test case for a machine built to befriend children.”