Goto

Collaborating Authors

 alpha school


Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School's Promise. Then They Wanted Out

WIRED

In Brownsville, Texas, some families found a buzzy new school's methods--surveillance of kids, software in lieu of teachers--to be an education in and of itself. At Alpha School's campus in Brownsville, Texas, a student works on exercises in a learning app. One day last fall, Kristine Barrios' 9-year-old daughter got stuck on a lesson in IXL, the personalized learning software that served as her math teacher. She had to multiply three three-digit numbers without using a calculator. Then she had to do it again, her mom says, more than 20 times, without making mistakes. At Alpha School, the private microschool the girl and her younger brother attended in Brownsville, Texas, she had been working a grade level ahead of her age in math, Barrios says. She could do three-digit multiplication correctly most of the time. But whenever she made an error in IXL, the software would determine she needed more practice and assign her more questions. She told her mom that she had asked her "guide," the adult who supervised her classroom in lieu of a teacher, to make an exception and let her move on. She said the guide's reply was that she needed to get it done, that it was expected of her. The adult guides in Alpha's classrooms "don't do any teaching," says the current head of the Brownsville school.


AI and the End of Accents

WIRED

I sound Korean--because I am Korean. Can AI make me sound American? It all began, as these things often do, with an Instagram ad . "No one tells you this if you're an immigrant, but accent discrimination is a real thing," said a woman in the video. Her own accent is faintly Eastern European--so subtle it took me a few playbacks to notice.


AI's Next Frontier? An Algorithm for Consciousness

WIRED

Some of the world's most interesting thinkers about thinking think they might've cracked machine sentience. And I think they might be onto something. As a journalist who covers AI, I hear from countless people who seem utterly convinced that ChatGPT, Claude, or some other chatbot has achieved "sentience." The Turing test was aced a while back, yes, but unlike rote intelligence, these things are not so easily pinned down. Large language models will claim to think for themselves, even describe inner torments or profess undying loves, but such statements don't imply interiority.


Inside San Francisco's new AI school: is this the future of US education?

The Guardian

Experts have raised questions about whether an app-based curriculum can serve all learners equally. Experts have raised questions about whether an app-based curriculum can serve all learners equally. Inside San Francisco's new AI school: is this the future of US education? In the world's tech innovation epicenter, an "AI-powered" private school has made headlines for unabashedly embracing the technology. Alpha School San Francisco, which opened its doors to K-8 students this fall, is the newest outpost of a network of 14 nationwide private schools.


AI is running the classroom at this Texas school, and students say 'it's awesome'

FOX News

Alpha School co-founder Mackenzie Price and a junior at the school Elle Kristine join'Fox & Friends' to discuss the benefits of incorporating artificial intelligence into the classroom. At a time when many American students are struggling to keep up, a private school in Texas is doing more with less, much less. At Alpha School, students spend just two hours a day in class, guided by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tutor. But results are impressive: students are testing in the top 1 to 2% nationally. "We use an AI tutor and adaptive apps to provide a completely personalized learning experience," said Alpha co-founder MacKenzie Price during an interview on Fox & Friends.


Texas private school's use of new 'AI tutor' rockets student test scores to top 2% in the country

FOX News

Alpha School co-founder Mackenzie Price and a junior at the school, Elle Kristine, join'Fox & Friends' to discuss the benefits of incorporating artificial intelligence into the classroom. A Texas private school is seeing student test scores soar to new heights following the implementation of an artificial intelligence (AI) "tutor." At Alpha School in Austin, Texas, students are placed in the classroom for two hours a day with an AI assistant, using the rest of the day to focus on skills like public speaking, financial literacy, and teamwork. "We use an AI tutor and adaptive apps to provide a completely personalized learning experience for all of our students, and as a result our students are learning faster, they're learning way better. In fact, our classes are in the top 2% in the country," Alpha School co-founder Mackenzie Price told "Fox & Friends." Will A.I. make schools'obsolete,' or does it present a new'opportunity' for the education system?