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Introduction In modern education, the integration of virtual teaching assistants and AI-powered tools is rapidly transforming learning environments. These technologies offer scalable solutions to address long-standing challenges such as student-to-teacher ratios, personalized instruction, and student engagement in various subjects and grade levels. Using advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, virtual assistants can complement traditional teaching methods, providing personalized support and enriching the educational experience for diverse learners. While AI presents a wide range of opportunities, we focus on its application to a pressing issue in middle school mathematics. Middle school mathematics serves as a crucial foundation for future academic and career success. However, national assessments show notable declines in proficiency levels as students move from elementary to middle school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024). When course material becomes more challenging in middle school, deeper issues such as increasing math anxiety and decreasing self-confidence contribute to this regression (Ramirez et al., 2018). Furthermore, traditional classroom models often do not meet the varied needs of students, leaving almost half of learners in need of more tailored instructional approaches than these conventional settings can provide (Pedersen et al., 2023). With the diverse academic, cultural, and emotional needs in each classroom, most educators lack the resources and capacity to tailor instruction to individual learners, especially as student-to-teacher ratios increase. Providing timely and targeted support is challenging for teachers, let alone offering additional enrichment to enhance a student’s learning. As a result, students may fall behind or develop negative mindsets toward math, closing doors to future academic and career opportunities. Despite years of emphasis on differentiated instruction, significant academic gaps remain unaddressed. This widening gap underscores an urgent need to equip teachers with real-time tools to better support diverse learners. Artificial intelligence and natural language processing provide an innovative and scalable solution to personalized learning and teacher assistance. There is evidence that access to a chatbot as a virtual teaching assistant can improve students’ academic performance and satisfaction,

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