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Los Angeles Unified's 'Ed' chatbot (AllHere collapse)

United States of America · Los Angeles · See the United States of America profile

A flagship US district AI student-support chatbot that collapsed within months: the ~US$6M vendor (AllHere) furloughed staff and filed for bankruptcy, student data was left in question, and its founder later faced fraud charges.

Los Angeles Unified's 'Ed' chatbot (AllHere collapse)

Details

Promoter
Los Angeles Unified School District
Keywords
Administration, guidance & operations, cautionary, procurement failure, student-support chatbot

Description

Los Angeles Unified launched 'Ed', an AI chatbot for student academic and wellbeing support, promoted at a major tech conference in April 2024 under a ~US$6M, five-year contract.

By June 2024 the vendor, AllHere, furloughed most staff citing financial trouble; in July it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Serious questions were raised about where students' data went, a whistleblower flagged privacy concerns, and in November the founder was arrested on fraud charges.

The field's clearest cautionary tale: AI hype and weak procurement/governance over student data — scored at the bottom across every dimension.

Read the full analysis: https://www.edweek.org/technology/los-angeles-unifieds-ai-meltdown-5-ways-districts-can-avoid-the-same-mistakes/2024/07

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