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Writers for comics like the Beano have often had fun with the idea of robot teachers. But now what used to be fictionThings that are fictional are made up. is starting to come true.

A British school for children aged four to 13 has hired a robot called Abigail Bailey as "principal headteacher". It works in a similar way to ChatGPTAn Artificial Intelligence chatbot released in November 2022. .

The robot will adviseGive helpful suggestions to. the headmaster, Tom Rogerson, on everything from writing school rules to helping pupils with ADHDAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a mental health condition that can cause above-normal levels of energetic and impulsive behaviours..

Rogerson says that being a headmaster is a very lonely job. So he is looking forward to having a well-trained robot to help him make decisions.

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The billionaire Bill GatesFounder and former CEO of Microsoft, the company responsible for popularising household computers in the 80s (and still one of the major global tech companies). His house on the shores of Lake Washington is called Xanadu 2.0. It took seven years to build and is seen as an early example of a smart home. says that chatbots will soon be able to give students feedback on their homework.

Robots would not replace human teachers, they said, but act as "an army of teaching assistantsPeople who support teachers and help students in the classroom. ". There are not enough teachers for every child to have one - but perhaps every child could have a robot helper.

But today, most chatbots still make mistakes. And some teachers worry that chatbots do not help people learn to solve problems themselves, or even that they could be used to cheat.

Yes! The world does not have enough teachers. Robots are the answer. And they can help teachers out too, by helping them to make decisions and doing some of their work.

No! Teaching is not just about telling people things they do not know. The best teachers also care about their students, know how they learn and help them to believe in themselves. Robots would not be good at this.