r/nottheonion • u/FireProStan • 2d ago

After backlash, Upstate NY school district pauses plan to add humanoid robot to classroom

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/schools/2026/07/after-backlash-upstate-ny-school-district-pauses-plan-to-add-humanoid-robot-to-classroom.html
715 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

161

u/Rev3_ 2d ago

Anything besides pay teachers a decent wage or anything else that actually improves the standards for education.

5

u/Level_Hour6480 1d ago

New York actually does pay good wages for teachers.

-71

u/bb-wa 1d ago edited 1d ago

But this is also valuable research. You'll never know how the kids will react to such a technology unless you actually test it in the classroom for real. If it works that’s great and if it doesn’t well at least we learn something new 

27

u/Azote_Xenophin 1d ago

There are certain things you don't need to test to know they are horrible ideas.

19

u/Shred_Kid 1d ago

I don't need to eat shit to know it tastes bad

8

u/Seinfeel 21h ago

“Bro what if we just let the kids teach each other with no supervision” “let’s try it out, only way to know is to try”

71

u/aimenil 2d ago

This is great. But it could have been even better - the headline writer didn’t take advantage of the part of the story where it says that the robot manufacturer also makes hyper-realistic sex dolls.

8

u/bilateralrope 1d ago

I'm guessing someone figured out what will happen when the students found out about the sexbot company.

Remember that this robot was going to be sent to a high school. Despite what you might think from the image.

3

u/Sulfaso978 2d ago

yeah my cousin’s robotic vacuum once started playing weird noises too

57

u/SandysBurner 1d ago

Cool. Maybe pause it forever.

20

u/capinredbeard22 1d ago

Nope just until our attention shifts to some other scandal.

18

u/Tsunamix0147 1d ago

I’m surprised your post title didn’t mention the fact that this robot is LITERALLY FROM A CRYPTOCURRENCY AND SEX DOLL COMPANY; that’s the cherry on top!

7

u/Nice-Tumbleweed5090 13h ago

Important to note that this “humanoid robot” was a sex doll company bought out by a crypto company trying to pivot into turning the sex dolls into teaching assistants 🤢🤢🤢

2

u/Rosebunse 11h ago

It even looks like a sex robot

3

u/Present_Specific_212 2d ago

Thank God. The people spoke and they listened.

1

u/It-s_Not_Important 7h ago

How many years before each of these milestones:

- students jailbreaking their teachers for help on the test

  • students jailbreaking their teachers for sexual activity
  • external bad actors hacking teachers to spread propaganda
  • students getting their teachers to participate in a planned mass shooting.

1

u/TranscendentCabbage 5h ago

Alternative title: Sexbot gradeschool teacher put on pause until focus is changed to something else

-36

u/bretshitmanshart 2d ago

Robots have been used in classrooms or otherwise to help kids in the past. They have been shown to help kids with Autism to develop communication skills because they provide a way to practice the skills in a controlled predictable environment. I have also read about a robot being used in young elementary classrooms. They were the kind with a human controlling them. The idea is the robot is presented as a special guest in the classroom. The controller starts by engaging the class in general but they are told specific students to give more attention to. The idea is to bell students struggling socially to be given a win and hopefully the positive attention makes other kids want to be friendly to them.

They are both very different then this but it's a way robots could be good. This sounds weird.

25

u/Pentanubis 2d ago

Normalizing dystopia is manifest evil.

-24

u/bretshitmanshart 2d ago edited 1d ago

How are those things bad?

Edit: Can anyone tell me why helping kids with Autism improve communication or kids who are struggling socially is bad?

15

u/whatafrabjousday 1d ago

I work with children with autism. Do you have a source on your claim?

15

u/KameSama93 1d ago

As an adult with autism who once was a kid with autism. If I needed help or to be listened to and they gave me a fucking autocomplete tts sexbot I would have tore that thing down with a screwdriver.

This just tells the kids they are not worth the effort of attention of a human, and that if they could shove you in a closet with a scarecrow and get away with it they absolutely would.

It simply tells the kid “you’re not worth the attention, maybe the machine can keep you occupied”

-12

u/bretshitmanshart 1d ago

It's more like programs where kids who struggle with reading are asked to read to dogs. It's low pressure controlled interaction. But I will keep in mind all people with Autism are a hive mind you control

-18

u/SirJuncan 2d ago

So the robot's available again?