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“Ed” was supposed to be an AI-powered “educational friend” for Los Angeles schoolkids, telling them how to do their homework, what time school let out and even where to go to college.
But the flopped $6 million chatbot – which looked like a talking sunshine – failed to deliver on any of its promises, and now it’s at the heart of a shocking federal criminal investigation into LA Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
“We were astonished there hasn’t been more fallout until now,” said Lila Byock, founder of Schools Beyond Screens, a grassroots parents’ and teachers’ group that aims to reform LA schools’ use of tech.
LA Unified took the splashy tech tool offline by June 2024, only two months after it was launched by Carvalho with a splashy press conference where he promised the talking sun called Ed would “democratize” and “transform education.”
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Carvalho’s failed $6 AI chatbot is at center of federal probe. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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The superintendent has been a booster of tech in schools, but now he’s under investigation. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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The district pulled Ed offline just weeks later as the firm that sold the tool to LASUD collapsed amid accusations of embezzlement by its founder, who was subsequently charged by the FBI.
Carvalho survived the scandal to be unanimously reappointed to his job the the LA school board last year.
But others, such as Byock, said the AI deal stunk to high heaven.
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“Ed was clearly a product that was rushed out, without any evidence for its efficacy, and without any transparency around the dealmaking process,” Byock said.
Carvalho, once seen at a rising educational star and a top US superintendent, was revealed in a stunning reversal yesterday to be the target of a federal criminal investigation that hinges on his relationship to the failed 2024 AI chatbot.
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The FBI raided three locations in an investigation of Carvalho. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
Federal agents yesterday raided Carvalho’s office, his home in San Pedro – and a home in Miami belonging to Debra Kerr, a former sales consultant with a now-defunct tech firm called AllHere that sold the Ed chatbot to LAUSD.
Kerr has said in court she was never paid her $630,000 fee for peddling the chatbot to the district.
LAUSD officials said the idea for Ed came from Carvalho as part of his plan to help LA students recover from the academic slide blamed on school shutdown during the pandemic.
District officials have also insisted competitive bidding for the project was above board, with startup AllHere winning the deal fair and square.
But the Boston-based newcomer was better know for text messaging systems, prompting some to question why the nation’s second-largest district didn’t hire an established player for the job.
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Carvalho said his chatbot would “democratize” education.
AllHere founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was arrested in 2024 and charged in Manhattan federal court with securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. AllHere filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Despite the spectacular collapse of AllHere and Ed, Carvalho retained support of LA Unified’s elected school board, which decides who to hire as the district’s superintendent and how to manage that person’s contract.
At the time of AllHere’s collapse, the LA Unified had paid out about half of its $6 million contract, a drop in the bucket of the district’s $18.8 billion budget.
And Carvalho was riding high on unusually strong test scores and graduation rates shown by the district under his leadership.
“They announced Ed with great fanfare, and then all of a sudden the company behind it was in question and the thing wasn’t happening,” said USC Rossier School of Education Dean Pedro Noguera.
“But at the time it was a small blemish on Carvalho’s record,” said Noguera. “There was clear evidence of improvement in LA Unified. It was one of just a few districts in the country to show gains.”
Byock isn’t convinced the trouble at LA Unified stops with Ed. She said her group wants the district to go back and examine all of the tech contract approved under Carvalho.
“I don’t think the Ed chatbot is the last we’re gong to hear of this,” said Byock.