The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced on Tuesday its plan to launch an AI training center for educators, with $23 million in funding from Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, as well as with the United Federation of Teachers.
The country’s second-largest union, with 200,000 members, intends to open the National Academy for AI Instruction in New York City, its headquarters. The academy will offer free, hands-on workshops for teachers starting this fall on how to use AI tools for tasks such as generating lesson plans.
This is the first partnership between a national union and tech companies, structured to create a sustainable education program for AI, the AFT said.
According to The New York Times:
- Lead partner Microsoft will provide $12.5 million.
- Founding partner OpenAI has committed to donating $10 million over five years.
- Anthropic will contribute $500,000 in the first year.
Teachers want to be ‘in the driver’s seat’
Educators have faced “tremendous technological changes,” from learning how to navigate AI “wisely, ethically, and safely” to confronting the threat of being replaced by it. To help teachers feel secure in their roles, the AFT chose to embrace the technology and reached out to tech companies to help develop an AI training academy, according to its press release.
“AI holds tremendous promise but huge challenges—and it’s our job as educators to make sure AI serves our students and society, not the other way around,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statem ent. “The direct connection between a teacher and their kids can never be replaced by new technologies, but if we learn how to harness it, set commonsense guardrails, and put teachers in the driver’s seat, teaching and learning can be enhanced.”
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AI should benefit students and teachers
“To best serve students, we must ensure teachers have a strong voice in the development and use of AI,” Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said in a statement. “This partnership will not only help teachers learn how to better use AI, it will give them the opportunity to tell tech companies how we can create AI that better serves kids.”
Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer of OpenAI, added: “When it comes to AI in schools, the question is whether it is being used to disrupt education for the benefit of students and teachers or at their expense. We want this technology to be used by teachers for their benefit, by helping them to learn, to think, and to create.”
Lehane continued: “The AI Academy will help ensure that the AI deployed helps educators do what they do best: teach, as well as democratize the power of education.”
Jack Clark, Anthropic co-founder and head of policy, said in the press release: “We’re at a pivotal moment in education, and how we introduce AI to educators today will shape teaching for generations to come.”
Read an in-depth examination on our sister site eWeek of how AI is used in education, including for cheating.