£32,000-a-year school ‘hires’ AI headteacher

An elite prep school has ‘appointed’ a chatbot as its principal headteacher, sharing the work of its human headmaster.

Cottesmore School, in West Sussex, is now partly overseen by Abigail Bailey, anartificial intelligence (AI) robot created for the role.

Speaking to the Telegraph, headmaster Tom Rogerson said the chatbot would support both him and other teachers in a range of scenarios, from writing school policies to helping neurodiverse students.

The school, which takes mixed boarding and day pupils aged 4 to 13, costs up to £32,000 a year for UK students.

The AI reportedly works in a similar way to ChatGPT, a large language model trained on vast swathes of data that can provide human-like responses. It was created with the help of an AI developer, and has been developed to offer a ‘wealth of knowledge in machine learning and education management’, according to the paper.

‘Sometimes having someone or something there to help you is a very calming influence,’ said Mr Rogerson.

‘It’s nice to think that someone who is unbelievably well trained is there to help you make decisions.’

While revolutionising many areas of work and life, the models are not infallible, frequently ‘hallucinating’ and generating false information.

‘It doesn’t mean you don’t ever also seek counsel from humans,’ added Mr Rogerson. ‘Of course you do. It’s just very calming and reassuring knowing that you don’t have to call anybody up, bother someone, you don’t have to wait around for an answer.’

There has also been concern over the effects of AI on society, not only in terms of job losses, but the risk of the technology further increasing inequality. 

However, Mr Rogerson is not keeping his AI colleague to himself, and wants state schools to have access to the publicly available model as well.

The addition of ‘Abigail Bailey’ to the teaching roster comes months after the school aso advertised for a head of AI – which it also awarded to a chatbot.

Named Jamie Rainer, the chatbot is ‘a highly trained adviser on generative AI’ designed to assist the school with AI strategy and planning.

The school also hosted a free AI festival in September, designed to help teachers understand and navigate the world of generative artificial intelligence.

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