High school students in central Japan are getting a close-up look at a future many people have only seen in science fiction: talking with a humanoid robot powered by generative AI.

On September 11, 2025, second-year students at Mishima Kita High School in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, interacted with Miroki, a humanoid robot equipped with ChatGPT. The classroom session was part of the school’s required “Public” course and focused on a timely question: how should people coexist with artificial intelligence?

Unlike a typical chatbot used on a phone or laptop, Miroki gives students a physical version of AI. The robot uses a camera to recognize facial expressions, responds to questions and can hold a conversation. That combination of AI software, cameras and a human-like body helps make an abstract technology feel immediate—and raises practical questions about how people may interact with robots in homes, hospitals, schools and workplaces.

From Chatbot to Classroom Robot

For many students, ChatGPT is already familiar. News On Japan reported that several pupils at Mishima Kita High School use AI services in daily life. But Miroki created a different kind of learning experience: students could test the robot’s conversational ability face to face, even asking it personal-style questions such as, “Is there someone you like?”

That moment matters because it highlights a common misunderstanding about AI. A system like ChatGPT can produce natural-sounding answers, but it does not have feelings, personal experiences or consciousness in the human sense. It generates responses by identifying patterns in enormous amounts of language data. When that software is placed inside a humanoid robot, however, its replies can feel more personal than they do on a text screen.

The class did not treat the robot merely as a novelty. Students were asked to consider the wider social impact of AI. One student said, “I think living together with robots may not be such a distant future, and they could become something that supports us while we support them.” Another connected the technology to possible care applications: “I think this could increasingly lead to helping people in need, such as in medical settings.”

Why AI Literacy Matters

The lesson reflects a broader shift in AI education. Schools are increasingly being asked to help students understand not only how to use generative AI tools, but also when to question them.

UNESCO has argued that AI in education must take a human-centered approach. Its guidance calls for protection of student privacy, age-appropriate use, teacher involvement and careful evaluation of whether an AI tool genuinely improves learning.

That is especially relevant for a robot like Miroki. A conversational robot can make lessons more engaging, help demonstrate how AI language models work and encourage students to discuss ethics in a concrete way. At the same time, schools need clear boundaries around:

  • Accuracy: AI can provide incorrect or misleading answers with confidence, so students should verify important information.
  • Privacy: Cameras, microphones and AI platforms may collect or process personal information, making data safeguards essential.
  • Bias: AI systems can reflect unfair patterns in the information used to train them.
  • Overreliance: Students still need to develop independent thinking, research skills and human-to-human communication.
  • Emotional attachment: A human-like robot can appear caring or aware even though it does not possess emotions or intent.

UNESCO’s ethical AI framework says systems should respect human rights and dignity, be transparent and remain subject to human oversight. Crucially, it says AI should not replace “ultimate human responsibility and accountability.”

What Miroki Signals for Robotics

Miroki’s classroom visit sits at the intersection of two fast-moving fields: generative AI and humanoid robotics.

Generative AI refers to tools that can create or respond with text, images, audio or other content. ChatGPT is the best-known example. Humanoid robots, meanwhile, are machines designed to move, communicate or interact in ways that resemble people. Put together, the technologies can create machines that see, listen, speak and react in real time.

Potential applications could include:

  • Classroom assistants that support demonstrations, language practice or accessibility.
  • Care robots that help older adults or patients with reminders, communication or routine tasks.
  • Customer-service robots in public spaces.
  • Training tools for medical, emergency-response or service-industry scenarios.

Still, a fluent conversation should not be mistaken for understanding. A robot may look attentive and respond warmly, but its output is generated by software rather than personal awareness. Teaching that distinction is one of the most useful parts of bringing AI robots into a classroom.

The Bigger Lesson: Ask Better Questions

The students at Mishima Kita High School will continue examining AI-related issues, including whether artificial intelligence can have a mind. That question is difficult, but it is a valuable starting point for a more practical discussion: what should people expect from AI, and where should humans remain in charge?

UNICEF recently warned that AI is already shaping childhood “for better and for worse,” and said the choices made now will influence children’s “safety, privacy, well-being and their equal access to opportunities for decades to come.” Its child-centered AI guidance similarly emphasizes safety, transparency, fairness, privacy and preparing young people for future technological change.

Miroki may be a glimpse of a more robot-filled future, but the most important outcome of the Japanese classroom experiment is not whether students are impressed by the machine. It is whether they leave better able to recognize AI’s limits, use it responsibly and decide what role it should play in human life.

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