One of the elite preparatory schools in Britain has appointed a “robot” that works using artificial intelligence technology as its main director, and is assisted in his work by the traditional human director, thus making it the first experience of its kind and the first school to be managed by a robot.
Cottesmore School in West Sussex has appointed Abigail Bailey, an artificial intelligence robot specially created for this purpose, to head the school.
A report published by the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, and seen by Al Arabiya.net, quoted the school’s (human) principal, Tom Rogerson, as saying that the “robot” or “chatbot” will support him and the other teachers in a range of tasks, starting from writing school policies to helping neurodiversity students.
The school that installed this robot is a private school, which accepts mixed boarding and day students aged between 4 and 13 years, and costs up to £32,000 a year in fees for local British students.
According to the report, the artificial intelligence “robot” works in a similar way to the famous chat application (ChatGPT), which is a large linguistic model that was trained on vast areas of data that can provide responses similar to human responses. It was created with the help of an AI developer, and was developed to provide “a wealth of knowledge in machine learning and education management,” according to the research paper.
“Sometimes having someone or something to help you is a very calming effect,” Principal Rogerson said. "It's nice to think that someone incredibly well-trained is there to help you make decisions," he added.
It is known that the popularity of chatbots supported by artificial intelligence has flourished since the launch of the ChatGPT program to the public in November of last year.
Although they have revolutionized many areas of work and life, these robots are not infallible, and their errors often reach the point of "hallucinating" and providing false information.
"This doesn't mean you never ask people for advice," Rogerson added. "Of course you do. It's very calming and reassuring to know that you don't have to call anyone, or bother someone, and you don't have to wait for an answer."
The addition of Abigail Bailey to the education sector comes months after the school also announced the position of Head of Artificial Intelligence, which it also awarded to a chatbot named Jamie Rayner, a “highly trained consultant in generative AI” designed to help the school with Artificial intelligence strategy and planning.
The school also hosted a free AI festival last September, designed to help teachers understand and navigate the world of generative AI.