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Wendy Graham鈥檚 two kids first encountered Amira, a popular artificial intelligence tutoring platform, in 2025, during a summer reading program in New Mexico. She also used it at home with her daughter, now a fourth grader.

But she found that the purple-haired avatar with the big, round glasses didn鈥檛 seem to understand where her daughter was struggling. When she stumbled over 鈥渦sually,鈥� the 鈥渓earning agent鈥� wanted her to repeat the word and spend time defining it. 

鈥淪he knew what the word meant; she just didn’t decode the word,鈥� Graham said. Amira, in her view, 鈥済ot hung up on all the wrong things.鈥�

Her son, on the other hand, never gave Amira a chance.

鈥淗e just looked at me and looked at the screen like, 鈥楾his isn’t happening,鈥� 鈥� Graham said.

Her kids鈥� lack of enthusiasm for the program reflects what researchers have concluded so far about AI tutors. While some states are spending millions on Amira and other virtual tutors, most kids aren鈥檛 sticking with them long enough to benefit. For now, high-dosage tutoring models proven to be effective are human-led and depend on 鈥渁 relationship that keeps students showing up and engaged,鈥� according to from the National Student Support Accelerator, a Stanford University center that conducts tutoring research. 

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have solid research showing that AI tutoring can work in the U.S. at scale,鈥� said Susanna Loeb, the center鈥檚 executive director. Researchers鈥� 鈥渂iggest finding is that the take-up is very low.鈥� 

Amira鈥檚 leaders, however, say their platform was based on extensive prior research showing AI tutoring can be effective . 

鈥淣o other scalable instructional intervention has been interrogated as many times, by as many independent teams, with this consistency of positive impact,鈥� CEO Mark Angel said in a statement to 社区黑料.

The brief comes as Amira, which records students鈥� voices to test their reading progress, faces increased scrutiny from districts in New Mexico. Parents expressed over how long the recordings are stored and what Amira does with the data. The New Mexico Public Education Department to use the program three times a year to assess K-2 students鈥� literacy skills. But in response to the opposition, it is allowing districts to , and Amria says it does not use the recordings for . 

Last month, the Las Cruces Public Schools, where Graham鈥檚 children attend and where she also teaches high school history, told parents they have disabled the recording feature and that they could request a paper assessment instead of Amira鈥檚 digital version. Officials also said they would discontinue use of Amira鈥檚 tutoring program.

鈥淭eachers,鈥� the memo said, 鈥渨ill continue to monitor progress and provide support for students to become proficient readers.鈥�

鈥楽upercharge teachers鈥� efforts鈥�

New Mexico parents鈥� reactions to Amira reflect broader reservations about the use of AI in schools. In from the Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, 84% of Americans said they鈥檙e worried about tech companies using students鈥� personal data to make a profit, and nearly half want AI use in the classroom kept to a minimum. 

The vast majority of survey respondents, 81%, expressed concern that teachers are being pressured to use AI even if it hasn鈥檛 been proven to help students learn. 

But Angel, with Amira, said the tool 鈥渃an supercharge teachers鈥� efforts鈥� by allowing them to listen to every child read aloud and identify struggling readers before third grade.

In 2024, the Duval County Public Schools in Florida signed a contract with Amira to help about 2,600 students in grades second through fourth reading below grade level and then tied half of the $100,000 contract to students鈥� progress. According to a of the work, more than 1,200 of the students met their goals for oral reading fluency, which exceeded the expectations of the contract.

Five hundred students made gains on state tests and about 300 reached the proficiency level, but the report doesn鈥檛 identify whether those results met the targets Amira was expected to reach.  

Graham, who previously taught fifth graders, appreciates what districts using Amira hope to accomplish.

鈥淚 think they’re trying to take things that have historically been done by teachers and streamline it to free up teachers鈥� time,鈥� she said. But she still thinks states and districts aren鈥檛 getting their money鈥檚 worth. 鈥淜ids don’t do their best for robots; kids do their best for people.鈥� 

Tutoring programs, however, can benefit from AI, the Stanford team concludes. A 2024 study, also from Stanford, showed that human tutors can become more effective with prompts from an AI tool. Tasks like scheduling, tracking attendance, analyzing notes from sessions and giving students additional practice outside of tutoring sessions are other ways that AI can support tutoring, according to the researchers.

The North Little Rock School District in Arkansas used , an AI platform that measures kids鈥� reading accuracy and fluency, as part of a research study. Students were expected to read to the AI program for 20 minutes, read a physical book independently for 20 minutes and then write about the topic, said Carmen Langston, the district鈥檚 literacy coordinator. 

On the screen, students would find digital books that teachers assigned or could create their own version, picking animals or scenery they prefer. 

鈥淭he kids like to put their names in there,鈥� Langston said, and those who used it for the recommended number of minutes saw progress in phonics. But the district, she said, is trying to limit screen time. 鈥淲e tell our teachers that if you are doing [an] intervention, it has to come from a human teacher.鈥�

鈥楨ngagement was thin鈥�

The Stanford center鈥檚 research summary follows its of an AI tutoring program showing that students averaged about two minutes per week in one district and about five minutes in another 鈥� well under the two 30-minute sessions they were expected to complete each week.

A released last month tested the use of Khanmigo, Khan Academy鈥檚 AI tutor that relies on OpenAI鈥檚 technology. During the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, researchers Philip Oreopoulos and Nina Low randomly assigned students in 18 Hamilton County, Tennessee, middle schools to use the program for math practice. But while nearly all students with Khanmigo used it at least once, 鈥渆ngagement was thin,鈥� they wrote. 

Students only consulted Khanmigo a third of the days they practiced math and just 17% of the times they made a mistake. Learning gains were about the same as they would have been had students not used the program, the researchers wrote. 

The results disappointed Sal Khan, who told that for students, the program鈥檚 release was a 鈥渘on-event.鈥�

Education Secretary Linda McMahon recently discussed the use of AI during a , saying there are not yet 鈥渁 lot of metrics鈥� to determine its value in the classroom.

鈥淎re we seeing better outcomes in schools? And if we’re not, then they should be pulled out,鈥� she said, adding that she thinks a parent who is dissatisfied with an ed tech tool 鈥渉as every right to go in and say, 鈥楴o, I want something different for my child.鈥� 鈥�

The secretary, however, has repeatedly praised , a chain of for-profit AI-focused schools. Students spend two hours learning from AI and spend the rest of their days learning 鈥渓ife skills鈥� like running a food truck or producing a musical, according to the website.

鈥淭he beauty of that is that the student almost has a one-on-one tutor,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he teacher can monitor to see if the child is a bit behind and repeat information for them. If the child is really excelling, then their programs get sped up a bit, so it’s a great tool.鈥�

State contracts

Several states feel the same way about Amira and have spent millions to make it available to districts. New Mexico鈥檚 contract costs about $2.7 million a year. Iowa in 2024 to make licenses available to nearly 250 schools across the state and boosted the contract by to expand access to more schools.

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction has a $2.6 million to implement Amira and points to showing that the more kids use it, the better their performance gets. But the data was self-reported by Amira and didn鈥檛 include a comparison group. The department declined to comment on research showing low student engagement. 

Utah doesn鈥檛 have a statewide contract with Amira and didn鈥檛 endorse it. An of interactive software programs showed that students considered at risk for falling behind in reading who used Amira outperformed a similar group of students who didn鈥檛 use the program. But of the 8,036 first through third graders deemed at risk, only 249 met the recommended usage time.

鈥淭herefore, these results should be interpreted with sample size in mind,鈥� the Utah evaluation said.

Amira also commissioned an analysis of the AI tutor鈥檚 use in Louisiana schools. showed better results for students who spent more time on the platform. That makes sense, Stanford鈥檚 Loeb said, but doesn鈥檛 prove the 鈥渃ausal effect of Amira.鈥� The state spent in COVID relief funds on the program and in December, authorized another for additional AI tools, including Khanmigo and Writable.

Ted Beasley, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Education, said high-dosage tutoring has helped drive recent improvement in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. 

“As we’ve expanded tutoring statewide, AI programs like Amira give school systems another option to complement that work,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 number of school systems have chosen to utilize this tool and have found it useful.鈥�

As new research continues to emerge, other states are exercising caution. North Carolina鈥檚 recently for fiscal year 2027 includes $500,000 for Khanmigo, a drastic reduction from the lawmakers originally recommended. 

Loeb still sees AI tutoring as promising, but said purchasing Amira or Khanmigo is not the same as 鈥渂uying tutors for everybody.鈥� She stressed that careful execution matters. That鈥檚 also what a on 鈥渋ntelligent tutoring systems,鈥� one of the studies that inspired Amira鈥檚 founders, concluded. Positive results depend in part on 鈥渢he adequacy of program implementations,鈥� the researchers wrote.

鈥淚f you choose a tool that has some evidence or that you think could be effective, you have to figure out how to actually get kids to use it,鈥� Loeb said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take a teacher, a parent or some school person setting up the context where the students feel motivated to do the work.鈥�

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