A New York school district paused plans to deploy a humanoid AI robot teacher after backlash from teachers, residents, and state officials. The Salamanca City Central School District had approved the roughly $60,000 purchase of “Sally” from Realbotix, but concerns centered on student data privacy and the company’s ties to a sex-bot manufacturer. State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said she remained concerned after a board presentation described the robot as a “tutoring platform,” and she pressed for clarity on privacy and security protections. Unionized teachers also argued the effort risked replacing educators rather than supporting students. The district said the pilot remains on hold while it develops enhanced student data privacy agreements with state officials and continues outreach to the community, keeping the project in a pre-deployment governance and compliance phase.