San Diego Charter School Spends $500,000 on Two Humanoid AI Robots

Executive Briefing

• Altus Schools purchased two Ameca humanoid robots at roughly $250,000 each to serve as classroom AI assistants
• Robots function as ChatGPT interfaces, raising concerns from experts advocating bans on chatbot use by children
• Reported classroom interactions proved 'clunky,' with robots speaking too fast and requiring repeated prompts from students
• Critics note $500,000 could fund 23 students' full-year education instead of a few months of robot trials
• School principal claims the initiative is part of a research study, but key details about who is conducting it remain unclear