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Alpha Schools, co-founded by a podcaster and her tech executive spouse, is a forward-thinking network of US charter schools. These schools leverage AI for education, emphasizing ‘life skills’ over traditional academics such as reading, writing, and arithmetic.
However, experts have raised concerns that the school’s $75,000-a-year experimental teaching methods, reminiscent of a ‘Black Mirror’ episode, could hinder children’s development.
Audrey Watters, an education tech writer and critic, mentioned to The San Francisco Standard that removing a traditional classroom setting, where collaborative learning occurs, is not only harmful but potentially hazardous.
The K-8 school chain, which is opening a new location in San Francisco, only requires students to partake in two hours of academic work each day.
The rest of the school day is devoted to developing life skills like building sail boats or managing an AirBnB.
This year, students are even working with YouTuber Mr. Beast to develop an app, the school’s bosses told shocked parents.
According to Joe Liemandt, Alpha’s principal and Trilogy software founder, the app’s objective is to ‘persuade 100 million teenagers that their happiness lies in making a difference in their community.’
In this school, ‘guides’ replace traditional teachers, functioning as coaches who motivate students with ‘Alpha bucks.’ These can be redeemed for prizes, donated, or even invested.
Alpha Schools have locations all over the country and center AI in their classroom learning
Founder and podcast host Mackenzie Price claimed that students learn 10 times faster than in traditional learning environments
Founder Mackenzie Price said that they start paying kids in kindergarten.
Children can use their money to buy prizes like Taylor Swift sweatshirts, Lego, and stuffed animals.
Price hosts the Future of Education Podcast and heavily endorses the two hour learning method that her schools use.
The approach revolves around the idea that ‘traditional classrooms fail to meet evolving needs because they’ve remained the same for over a century.’
Price claimed that students at their schools will learn 10 times faster than they would in traditional learning environments.
She and her husband Andrew, who co-founded the charter schools, hope to demonstrate that children can learn values and lessons from a computer.
Liemandt agreed: ‘For years, there have been way better ways to teach kids than a teacher in front of a classroom.
‘It just wasn’t technologically or economically doable until now.’
Principal Joe Liemandt said that there has been a better way to teach students than traditional classroom learning ‘for years’
According to their website, screens are only used for the two academically focused hours in the day, ‘then it’s all hands on.’
They wrote: ‘Think outdoor play, real-world projects, and creative challenges. Tech is a tool not a babysitter.’
He believes that generative AI will ‘revolutionize’ education. All of Alpha’s lesson plans are written by AI and based on AI-written books.
Watters said she worries that new schools like Alpha will rely too much on artificial intelligence.
‘They’ve really leaned into all of this hype that AI is this magic wand that can do anything. It is, I think, snake oil,’ she said.
Alpha School students only spend two hours a day on traditional subjects, before spending the rest of the day doing hands-on learning
Watters underscored the value of students learning from each other’s mistakes within a classroom, asserting that a conventional setting is optimal for teaching children how to collaborate and communicate effectively.
Pew Research reported earlier this year that a quarter of US teachers think that AI is doing more harm than good in the classroom.
Even prospective parents of Alpha School students said they worried that children engaging in AI learning will be behind their peers, socially inept, or neglect to learn the lesson in patience and collaboration that traditional students learn.
Because the technology and learning method is so new, there is also concern that the lack of evidence may damage students in adulthood, or even that the technology will too-soon become obsolete.
Parent Andrey Svirsky said that because the school’s methodology is so new, there is not yet any evidence to show how it might prepare kids for adulthood – something he pointed out that ‘you cannot really redo it if it doesn’t work out.’
Yet, hundreds of families seem to think the innovation is worth the risk.
The new San Francisco campus is the 14th across the country, with Alpha AI learning schools already established in Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami to name a few.
In 2026, they plan to open locations in Puerto Rico, North Carolina, and Virginia.
The company provides transportation to and from school and even offers summer camp programs.
