As with many liaisons, it began innocently enough. Sally was to be the new teacher’s assistant at a local school in central New York. Sally was attractive and super smart. The school and the students loved Sally. But Sally was from Vegas and had a marker for 58 large in her pocket. The name proved to be an alias. A sex doll company was in Sally’s past. The locals found out and didn’t like it one bit. Now Sally is out of a job.

It all sounds like a film noir plot. But what makes this a modern tale is that Sally is a humanoid robot.

So here’s what happened. Realbotix is a Las Vegas-based maker of humanoid robots and AI systems that developed an AI-powered M-series humanoid teacher’s assistant called Optio. Realbotix contracted with the Salamanca City Central School District on the Seneca Nation Reservation in central New York to bring Optio into the classroom. Optio would go by the name “Sally” to blend with the locals.

Student government helped with the details: Sally would be a 20-something female, have pale silicone flesh, long, dark hair, thin eyebrows and a cheery but humble disposition. And while Sally has a body, it’s confined to a sitting position. Sally’s job was to use natural language, facial expressions and real-time interaction to create engaging, hands-on learning experiences for students while exposing them to emerging technologies in the process. And Sally would know all about local history and landmarks.

Photo credit: Realbotix

Everyone loved Sally and the Salamanca School District ponied up $57,590 to bring her on board. “This deployment in a working school district represents a landmark moment for both AI and humanoid robotics,” declared Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Realbotix. “We are moving beyond lab demonstrations and pilots to deliver real, embodied AI directly into classrooms—supporting teachers, engaging students, and proving that advanced robotics can thrive in live educational environments. Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education.”

Not so fast. The criticism hit like a failing grade. Melinda Person, president of the New York State United Teachers union, said Sally was an inappropriate and thoughtless expansion of technology in the classroom, reported the New York Times. Person said Sally dehumanized the teaching profession.

Others poured shade on Realbotix’s corporate history. Until recently, Realbotix was a crypto operation called Tokens.com based in Toronto. Realbotix then acquired Simulacra, a Las Vegas maker of realistic sex dolls and pivoted into AI humanoids. Realbotix denies that the sex dolls are linked to its AI humanoids.

The Salamanca School District responded by saying that Sally “will never replace teachers, staff members, or meaningful human interaction.” The Trump administration, meanwhile, evidently supports AI robots in the classroom. First Lady Melania Trump appeared with an educational robot named Plato as part of her own “Be First: Fostering The Future” initiative. Linda McMahon, secretary of the nearly non-existent U.S. Department of Education, says AI in the classroom is a priority.

Local residents chimed in with concerns that a high school with a large Native American student body was being used as a testing ground for AI humanoid robots in the classroom, worried that past educational abuses at Native American boarding schools would morph into hallucinating AI teachers that would disenfranchise students.

In the end, Sally got hit with a suspension from school. The New York State education department said it needed to investigate privacy concerns, appropriate safeguards and concerns that a robot would perform functions that should remain the responsibility of trained teachers. That could take a while. Whether Sally shows up in another school district in a different state with a new name and a changed look remains to be seen.