I thought my kids had a new reading tutor at school named Amira. Turns out it was an AI app.

The SF public school system has been using an AI reading tutor since last year, though it did not inform parents of this fact. I learned midway through the year last year that the person named Amira that my 1st grader was always complaining about was not an incompetent human teacher's assistant, but rather a glitchy app that the district has paid $400K for.

While other cities are banning AI and limiting screen-time in schools, it seems SF is doubling down on it. My colleague and I spoke to parents, kids, teachers, and the people at this company to figure out why people are so frustrated by this app. If you have school-aged kids, you will find this interesting. And please let me know if you have thoughts about Amira that differ from what we heard here. https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/2026/09/25/pst-sf-amira-ai-in-schools/