Some of the country’s wealthy people are allowing artificial intelligence to teach their children

Most Americans don’t trust artificial intelligence. It has been proven that she does not know what toppings are safe for pizza. People don’t even want to listen to AI music. But none of this matters to some of America’s wealthy people, who are turning to artificial intelligence to educate their children instead of traditional schools.

Companies like Forge Prep and Alpha School charge families tens of thousands of dollars to turn their children into beta testers for AI teachers and “interactive project-based workshops.” Unsurprisingly, Silicon Valley has been a big adopter of this new model. Sean Johnson, a San Francisco-based venture capitalist, told The New York Times: Wall Street Journal He plans to send his son to Alpha Kindergarten worth $75,000. “We realize that education is probably as broken as it is now and there will be entrepreneurs trying to fix it,” he said. “You want someone to be able to think on their feet and navigate the world, not necessarily recite facts in a particular discipline.”

Ignoring Johnson’s fundamental lack of understanding of modern pedagogy, it’s unclear how a fawning AI will train children to “think on their feet and navigate the world.” Also troubling is that Mackenzie Price, co-founder of Alpha School, said she plans to keep “hot-button social issues” out of the classroom. Which, in the current political climate, could cover women’s rights, the history of slavery in America, and our immigrant past. This may not seem like a big deal when you’re talking about kindergarten, but in some locations, alpha passes for high school.

Companies like Forge also don’t share performance metrics, so there’s no evidence that these AI-guided private schools improve educational outcomes.