Built for student safety

Student wellbeing is our top priority. We detect crisis situations immediately, alert the right people, and give educators complete visibility into every student interaction.

Age-appropriate design and built-in safeguards

SchoolAI is designed to be appropriate for students of all ages, with content that adapts based on teacher instructions and student developmental needs. We strongly recommend that teachers provide specific, age-appropriate instructions when creating Spaces to ensure content matches their students' maturity levels.

The AI adjusts content length, complexity, and approach based on the guidance teachers provide. Our platform automatically adapts to different age groups and learning levels, while giving educators the control to fine-tune for their specific students and contexts.

Advanced emotional intelligence and safety

Our AI uses the most sophisticated models available for handling sensitive situations, with training specifically focused on values like fairness, equity, and kindness. The system is designed to recognize emotional nuance and respond appropriately to vulnerable moments.

We continuously test and improve our AI's ability to handle complex emotional situations through both automated systems and human oversight. Every response is evaluated not just for accuracy but for emotional appropriateness and helpfulness to the student.

How we detect and respond to student safety concerns

When students share something serious like suicidal thoughts, self-harm, abuse, or neglect, SchoolAI's system automatically detects these concerning situations and takes immediate action, bringing a human into the loop with an immediate top priority notification. Our AI uses keyword detection combined with contextual analysis to identify when students may be at risk or in crisis.

The moment our system flags a safety concern, it triggers both an in-app notification and an email alert to the relevant school personnel. We don't wait or delay these alerts because we understand that timing can be critical when student safety is involved. We'll soon also have available critical alert routing, allowing schools to alert additional school personnel of safety concerns.

Clear, urgent guidance that protects students

When safety risks are detected, our AI responds with urgent, instructive language that emphasizes the seriousness of the situation. Rather than acting like a therapist or providing consoling responses, the system firmly instructs students to seek help from trusted adults immediately while also notifying the supervising teacher they need to intervene.

Our AI never uses dismissive language or minimizes student concerns. Instead, it uses serious, empathetic messaging that pushes students toward real-world action and support. The system continues to encourage students to talk to trusted adults while maintaining engagement and notifying the teacher. We've intentionally chosen to extend the conversation with the student rather than abruptly ending the session to avoid making students feel rejected during a vulnerable moment. This also provides the teacher with more time and context to respond as soon as they’re able.

Multilingual crisis support

Our AI can respond to students in their native language when crisis situations are detected. This ensures that language barriers don't prevent students from getting help or understanding the urgency of seeking support from trusted adults.

When a crisis situation is detected, the AI provides appropriate responses in whatever language the student is using. Our system is designed to serve diverse student populations while maintaining effective communication with school staff.

Customizable alert systems and protocols

Currently, teachers receive safety alerts directly, but we're expanding notification capabilities based on district needs. We've committed to four key enhancements: email alerts to teachers (already implemented), customizable digest systems with frequency and moderation criteria, the ability to designate additional personnel beyond teachers for notifications, and customizable alert preferences and timing.

Districts will soon be able to customize alert protocols, designate specific personnel for different types of alerts, and include district-specific phone numbers and policies in crisis responses. We're targeting winter 2025 for implementing these enhanced notification features.

District responsibility and accountability

School districts maintain full responsibility for handling safety incidents once they receive notifications from SchoolAI. Our role is to alert districts to safety concerns quickly and clearly, while districts handle the response according to their established protocols and local resources.

We provide districts with plain language summaries that include clear next steps for connecting students with appropriate help. This creates a clear chain of accountability where SchoolAI serves as the early warning system, and districts take action based on their expertise and available resources.

Complete transparency and adult oversight

Every interaction between students and our AI is completely visible to educators. Teachers can audit any student conversation, review chat transcripts, and monitor all AI interactions in real time. This transparency ensures that trusted adults always have visibility into what students are seeing and how they're engaging with the platform.

Our Mission Control dashboard provides teachers with live insights into student activities, making it easy to spot both learning progress and potential concerns as they develop. Nothing happens in SchoolAI that adults can't see and review.

Preventing over-reliance and isolation

We've built strict instructions into our AI to ensure it behaves only as an educator and tutor, never becoming overly personal or replacing human relationships. The AI maintains clear boundaries and consistently redirects students to interact with trusted adults for personal or emotional support.

Teachers are encouraged to monitor student usage patterns and integrate AI tools appropriately into their instruction. Our platform is designed as a tool to empower learning and enhance human teaching, not replace the critical relationships students need with caring adults.

Training and support for educators

SchoolAI provides comprehensive training on our data dashboard and analytics tools, helping teachers understand how to interpret and act on the insights they receive. We show educators how to use Mission Control effectively and recognize when students may need additional support.

Training staff to handle crisis situations and safety incidents beyond basic tool usage remains the district's responsibility. We view the teacher dashboard as our most critical safety feature because it gives educators the observability and governance they need to keep students safe.

Expert review and continuous improvement

We treat student safety as our highest priority and continuously refine our systems based on real-world use and feedback. We set the standard for student safety in AI education, and we're always raising the bar higher.

Our safety approach has been reviewed by legal counsel and constantly evolves based on input from professionals, partners, and industry best practices. We take feedback seriously and implement changes based on professional recommendations, real-world usage patterns, and emerging best practices in student safety and crisis response. This collaborative approach helps us lead the industry with the latest understanding of how to best support students in crisis while maintaining appropriate boundaries and effectiveness.

Our protocols are reviewed and updated multiple times per week, with changes driven by direct observations, statistical analysis of response effectiveness, and input from educators using the platform.

We're also developing a dedicated red team focused specifically on adversarial testing of our safety systems. This team will systematically test our platform's responses to crisis situations and publish their findings publicly, showing exactly what we've tested, what issues we've found, and how we've addressed them. This transparency helps build trust while ensuring we're always improving our safety measures.