Canadian university debuts 3D AI teaching assistant “Kia” to co-teach ethics course

Simon Fraser University professor Steve DiPaola has introduced Kia, a 3D AI teaching assistant, to co-teach his first-year course on AI history and ethics alongside him this fall. The initiative represents what SFU calls a “world first” in higher education, designed to expose students to AI capabilities and limitations through direct classroom interaction rather than theoretical discussion alone.

What you should know: Kia appears as an expressive Black female digital persona with real-time facial expressions and body language, created by DiPaola to serve as an AI collaborator rather than a replacement for human teaching staff.

• The AI assistant will answer questions, provide insights, and engage in debates with students during class discussions about AI perspectives and capabilities.
• DiPaola emphasizes that Kia will not grade assignments and his human teaching assistant remains in place, addressing concerns about AI replacing academic jobs.
• The course targets students with no prior AI experience, making Kia’s presence a hands-on learning tool for understanding artificial intelligence.

Why this matters: The classroom debut allows students to directly experience AI interaction while simultaneously learning about its ethical implications and limitations.

• “What better way to talk about AI ethics than to bring AI into the classroom to teach alongside me? Performatively, I think it engages students about the real issues,” DiPaola explained.
• The approach aims to “anthropomorphize” AI—giving it human-like characteristics—to demonstrate both its capabilities and shortcomings through live interaction.

What experts think: Computer scientists and education researchers are watching the experiment with mixed reactions about anthropomorphizing AI technology.

• “A lot of people are afraid and opposed to anthropomorphizing AI. So they would say this is kind of a slippery slope,” said Alan Mackworth, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia.
• Mackworth predicted Kia “will make a lot of mistakes, for one thing, [and] it’ll make hilarious mistakes.”
• Sarah Eaton, an education professor from the University of Calgary, sees potential ethical concerns around academic labor exploitation but views it as forward-thinking: “This is teaching for the future, but doing it today.”

The bigger picture: Eaton predicts AI teaching assistants will become commonplace in education, supporting personalized learning approaches for students with diverse needs.

• The initiative signals a shift toward integrating AI directly into pedagogy rather than treating it as a separate subject matter.
• Kia makes her classroom debut on September 3, with other institutions likely monitoring the results for their own AI integration strategies.