Macquarie replaces psychology tutorials with AI chatbot

Two mandatory online psychology subjects at Macquarie University have replaced weekly Zoom tutorials led by paid academics with a Microsoft-built chatbot called Virtual Peer. The university's line is that it has not replaced teaching. Students disagree.

The chatbot, first trialled in 2024, guides students through scenario-based exercises and answered almost 80,000 student questions in 2025, with nearly the same volume in the first half of 2026 alone. Macquarie told Information Age that Virtual Peer is "an optional supplementary tool that allows students to ask questions and, in some units, undertake interactive activities to reinforce their learning," and that "Macquarie University has not replaced teaching with an AI chatbot."

One student in the affected cohort described the experience to the Guardian differently: "Instead of a group discussion or a tutor teaching you, it's a class activity done with a robot," adding, "I feel like I'm teaching this robot how to take jobs away from my teachers."

Dr Alison Barnes, a Macquarie academic, warned that "University staff are being hammered by a workload crisis, but simply papering over those cracks with piecemeal AI rollouts could actually create even more damaging issues." Vince Caughley, NSW Division Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union, said the union wants "enforceable protections against AI being used to cut jobs, intensify workloads, undermine academic and professional judgement, or replace work." Macquarie says classroom teaching for the two subjects returns in 2027.