Should AI chatbots simulate care for students? Alberta teachers say no
Should AI chatbots simulate care for students? Alberta teachers say no
Publish Date: 2026-06-30 11:33:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
Should schools allow AI systems that don’t just answer students, but appear to care for them?
At its 2026 annual representative assembly, the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) passed a resolution that “anthropomorphic artificial intelligence tools, including AI companions and other AI systems designed specifically to simulate friendship, counselling or intimate relationships, not be deployed or introduced into any Alberta K–12 learning environments or support settings.”
At almost the same time, Alberta’s government announced a three-year, $2.7-million partnership with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) to develop AI learning kits for K–12 classrooms. These kits are intended to help teachers introduce AI concepts across subjects, with digital resources, coaching and curriculum connections.
While these developments seem to contradict each other — one banning specific AI tools and the other promoting AI literacy — the conflict is only superficial. Alberta teachers are rejecting a particular kind of AI presence in children’s lives, not AI literacy at large.
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The issue is simulated care
The ATA resolution is important because it names a boundary that many education systems are only beginning to confront.
Schools are not only places where children receive information. They are places where children develop judgment, trust, identity, relationships and a sense of belonging. That makes the arrival of anthropomorphic AI different from earlier classroom technologies.
Anthropomorphic AI refers to systems designed to appear human-like. In education, this may include AI companions, chatbot friends, counselling-like systems or tutor bots that present themselves as warm, caring, responsive and emotionally available.
The most obvious concern is an AI companion that is marketed as a friend. But the issue does not…
