Jason Ludwig, a film and media-studies professor at UC Santa Barbara who has researched the digitization of education, told The Examiner “there is every reason to believe that Amira is capable of improving literacy-instruction outcomes.”

But he said that at the same time, much of the results “depend on how [Amira] is implemented” and how much the software protects students’ data and personal information.

Ludwig said his main concern is that tools like these don’t create additional work for overburdened teachers.

“This is a huge issue, especially in California, where educators are already stretched thin by limited resources and financial pressures, and where school districts are facing budget crunches,” Ludwig said. “I worry that these kinds of systems contribute to a broader trend of relying on technological fixes that overshadow the more urgent need for real, material support for educators, like affordable housing.”

“Too often, technologies that are marketed as labor-saving actually create more burdens for the workers they’re intended to help,” he said.