Alpha Chicago, which opened this year, enrolls roughly 50 students, though its space can hold up to 500. It is part of Alpha Schools, a network that reports 1,500 students across 50 campuses nationwide. Tuition runs nearly $55,000 per student.

The school does not use traditional teachers. Classes are led by "guides," who go by their first names and supervise groups of students. Most guides do not have a background in education; a February analysis by the University of Colorado's National Education Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, found that only about one-third of Alpha guides have education training or degrees.

Carrington Haas, lead guide at Alpha Chicago, said the technology is only part of the appeal. "AI is a component of it, but I think truly the impressive and the magic part of Alpha is the way that we are able to teach the life skills," she said. Those skills include public speaking, financial literacy, teamwork and leadership.

Students are still adjusting. Owen, a student at the school, said the software felt different from using a tablet. "At first, I thought it would feel like going on my iPad, but it feels so much more different, like I'm actually learning," he said. He offered one critique: "One thing I wish was that it sounded more human-like, because it sounds so much like a robot."

Dr. Brian Howell, the school's dean of parents, said the model is often misunderstood. "It's a very unusual kind of education that people have misunderstandings about," said Howell, a former anthropology professor at a college in the western suburbs. He said one family moved states to enroll, though most students are from the Chicago area. Some families relocated from the North Shore to the Loop to avoid a commute, he said.

Asked about access for families who cannot afford tuition or live farther away, Howell said the school hopes to grow. "We want to be able to expand this and make it so that it's not just an exclusive education, because this is a model that we believe can work for everybody," he said.

Not everyone is convinced the artificial intelligence is the real innovation. Charles Tocci, an associate professor of social studies education at Loyola University Chicago, said published materials leave unclear how much AI is involved and what it looks like in practice. He also noted similarities to Montessori education and questioned whether Alpha's long-term goal is operating schools or scaling its software.

"They hope to serve a billion students within 20 years, which suggests to me that the goal isn't necessarily for Alpha School to be successful, but rather their AI software platform," Tocci said.

Alpha Chicago is in its first year and is looking to expand in the region. The school has applied for a zoning permit to renovate an old school building in Evanston; that request is still working through the city approval process.