NY school pauses $60K AI robot teacher - maker has sex doll ties

quote:

---

An upstate New York school district’s planned use of an artificial intelligence-powered, humanoid robot in a classroom has been put on hold after parents and teachers raised concerns about the manufacturer, including that the company is linked to hyper-realistic sex bots.

---

quote:

---

Salamanca City Central School District planned to deploy the $60,000 stationary robot with long dark hair, which had already been nicknamed "Sally." School board members for the district, which is on the Seneca Nation of Indians reservation, signed off on the nearly $60,000 purchase saying it would help high school students interested in robotics and technology fields.

---

quote:

---

Unionized teachers raised another concern, pointing out that Realbotix’s sister company produces sex dolls. Melinda Person, president of the labor union New York State United Teachers, said, "a robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms."

Dig deeper:
Realbotix responded to the privacy concerns by assuring families that any student-linked information would be encrypted and under the district’s control. It also denied that "Sally" was a repurposed sex doll, and described it as a "newly manufactured, purpose-built educational unit."

Realbotix, which focuses its products on healthcare, education, and other non-adult commercial applications, is tied to Intima LLC, a company that has an ownership stake in RealDoll, a longtime maker of sex dolls, including ones powered by AI.

---