Written by Dr. Marisa Rivas
A robot can now load your dishwasher. Figure’s humanoid robot, powered by its Helix AI system, can navigate a kitchen, handle dishes, open and close the dishwasher, and adapt its movements as it completes a sequence of household tasks. The video of it in action is fascinating to watch. For anyone who grew up imagining Rosie from The Jetsons handling the dishes, it’s also maybe a little exciting.
But Rosie probably isn’t moving into our kitchens tomorrow. Real homes are unpredictable and full of variety. Our dishes are different. Our dishwashers are different. Objects might move, break, and end up where they aren’t supposed to be after a washing cycle. And if loading a dishwasher can have that much variance, what are the complexities within a typical classroom?
When a Robot Enters a Classroom
That question became much less hypothetical when another robot, Sally, recently made headlines in New York. A school district planned to pilot Sally as part of an initiative supporting robotics and technology. To be clear, the robot was never intended to replace classroom teachers. Still, the announcement prompted immediate concerns from educators, families, and state leaders. In defending the initiative, Superintendent Mark Beehler offered an important reminder: “There is no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school…Teaching is a human-to-human process.”
This distinction is critical because teaching has never been simply about the delivery of information. Teachers notice the student who is confused, but won’t raise a hand. They recognize when the productive struggle has become frustration. They adjust a question because students are ready to go deeper. They know when a student needs encouragement, challenge, humor, patience, or simply someone who believes in them. Those moment-by-moment decisions depend on relationships, context, experience, and professional judgment.
Neither Hero Nor Villain
Dr. Douglas Reeves offers a helpful perspective for navigating this tension point between humans and AI. In a recent Fearless Schools podcast conversation, he cautioned against both the hype and the fear surrounding AI.
Reeves states, “It’s not as good as people think. It’s not going to revolutionize the workforce. It’s not as bad as people think. It’s not going to take away all of our jobs, particularly teaching and leadership jobs.”
That balanced perspective also runs through his book, Education and the Ethics of AI: Enduring Values in a Changing World. AI does not need to become either the hero or the villain of education. Instead, its value depends largely on what educators ask it to do and, more importantly, what we intentionally preserve as human work. Perhaps, then, we are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What can AI do instead of teachers?” we might ask, “What can AI help great teachers do even better?”
Amplify What Matters
Used intentionally, AI can expand a teacher’s capacity without replacing the expertise behind the work.
AI can help teachers:
- Plan: Generate possibilities, anticipate misconceptions, refine questions, and develop differentiated approaches.
- Create: Develop examples, explanations, scaffolds, communications, and resources that teachers adapt for their students.
- Respond: Identify patterns in evidence of student learning and explore possible instructional next steps.
But in each case, the teacher remains the decision-maker and the human at the center. AI can provide possibilities, but teachers decide what their students need. The goal should not be using AI simply because we can. Nor should fear of what AI might become prevent us from exploring what it can contribute. The opportunity lies somewhere in between: pairing increasingly capable technology with the irreplaceable expertise of educators.
Maybe someday a robot will really load our dishwashers every night. I certainly won’t complain. But classrooms aren’t dishwashers and students aren’t tasks to be completed more efficiently. As educators and leaders explore AI, perhaps our starting question should be simple:
What do we want teachers to have more time and capacity to do?
The promise of AI in education isn’t a future with fewer teachers. In contrast, it’s a future in which great teachers have greater capacity to plan thoughtfully, respond intentionally, create effectively, and spend more of their valuable energy doing the deeply human work only they can do.
While technology will continue to change, the importance of great teaching will not.
Dr. Marisa Rivas brings more than 25 years of experience in education as a teacher, elementary principal, and district leader. She currently serves as an Instructional Services Specialist in Research, Assessment, and Evaluation for Riverside Unified School District and is a recipient of the national Milken Educator Award.
Citations
Figure AI. (2026, January 27). Introducing Helix 02: Full-body autonomy. YouTube.
National Public Radio. (2026, July 29). A school district in upstate New York planned to put an AI robot in the classroom. NPR.
Reeves, D. (2026). Education and the ethics of AI: Enduring values in a changing world. Solution Tree Press.
Reeves, D. (2026, March 16). Possibility: Teaching in the age of AI with Doug Reeves [Video podcast episode]. Fearless Schools Podcast. YouTube.