'Ed' an AI chatbot will be LAUSD's newest student advisor, Carvalho says in splashy show

An AI chatbot named "Ed" will be Los Angeles Unified's newest student advisor, programmed to tell parents about their child's grades, tests results and attendance, Supt. Alberto Carvalho announced Friday in a back-to-school speech at Walt Disney Concert Hall that rivaled a Hollywood extravaganza. Carvalho took the stage as high-volume music pounded and fast-paced video flashed across a giant screen. The audience of district employees -- mostly administrators -- applauded as if on cue as lighting, singers, videos, dancers enmeshed in an annual address unprecedented for its production values in the nation's second-largest school district, a reflection of the superintendent's attentiveness to generating positive publicity. Amid the flashy production -- in anticipation of the Aug. 14 school opening -- Carvalho repeated his pledge to bring about full academic recovery from the pandemic within two years.