Taylor Lorenz’s Power User Kids Are Being Taught By ChatGPT: Inside A $65K AI School
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Feb 25, 2026 
Emmanuel Maiberg, a reporter at 404 Media who dug up leaked documents on Alpha School, explains how a $65,000 AI-driven school really operates. He recounts chaotic AI lesson plans, rampant hallucinations, heavy surveillance of students, and scraping third-party platforms. Short, sharp takes on media hype, human tutors patching failures, and the ethics of treating kids like test subjects.
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AI Generated Texts Create A Closed Loop Of Hallucinations
- Alpha Read ingests sources then generates new reading passages and multiple-choice questions, so students read AI-generated texts and are quizzed by AI.
- That creates a closed loop where hallucinations and illogical questions propagate through learning materials.
Company Goal Is Fully Autonomous Education
- Alpha School employed credentialed experts initially but aims for 'no human in the loop' so humans are being phased out.
- That ambition drives the shift toward unvetted AI-generated materials and fewer educators.
Employees Flagged Faulty AI Questions Hurting Students
- Former staff described faulty AI questions confusing students and undermining trust in assessments.
- Documents quote employees: poorly constructed questions do more harm than good and fail to meet SAT standards.