Should schools allow AI systems that don't just answer students, but appear to care for them?
At its 2026 annual representative assembly, the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) passed a resolution that "anthropomorphic artificial intelligence tools, including AI companions and other AI systems designed specifically to simulate friendship, counselling or intimate relationships, not be deployed or introduced into any Alberta K-12 learning environments or support settings."
At almost the same time, Alberta's government announced a three-year, $2.7-million partnership with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) to develop AI learning kits for K-12 classrooms. These kits are intended to help teachers introduce AI concepts across subjects, with digital resources, coaching and curriculum connections.
While these developments seem to contradict each other one banning specific AI tools and the other promoting AI literacy the conflict is only superficial. Alberta teachers are rejecting a particular kind of AI presence in children's lives, not AI literacy at large.
