New York, NY – In a groundbreaking collaboration, some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies have joined forces with the largest teachers’ union in the United States. Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic have partnered with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its New York City affiliate, the United Federation of Teachers, to launch a new initiative aimed at equipping educators with essential AI skills.
The newly announced National Academy for AI Instruction will allocate $23 million toward free AI training and curriculum for all 1.8 million AFT members. This initiative marks the first partnership between a national union and major AI developers, signaling a significant step towards integrating AI responsibly into the education system.
The program, spearheaded by venture capitalist Roy Bahat and inspired by existing high-tech training centres, will establish a brick-and-mortar facility in Manhattan. Its overarching goal is to cultivate a “national model for AI-integrated curriculum,” offering a comprehensive approach that includes skills-based workshops, online courses, and hands-on training.
Financial contributions to the academy are substantial: Microsoft is investing $12.5 million, OpenAI is providing an additional $8 million in funding along with $2 million in technical resources, and Anthropic is contributing $500,000.
Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith, emphasized the importance of teacher involvement in AI development, stating, “To best serve students, we must ensure teachers have a strong voice in the development and use of AI. 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.”
The academy, under the leadership of the AFT, is set to commence with a New York-based training cohort this fall. The program plans to scale nationwide at a later date, with a long-term vision to train 400,000 educators over the next five years.
This collaboration follows Microsoft’s earlier engagement with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 2023, which aimed to address AI’s potential impact on global workforces. Microsoft also previously established neutrality frameworks with both the Communication Workers of America and the AFL-CIO, ensuring collective bargaining opportunities for workers seeking AI protections.
Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT, underscored the enduring value of human connection in education while highlighting AI’s potential to enhance learning. She wrote, “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.” Weingarten further articulated the academy’s purpose, stating, “The academy is a place where educators and school staff will learn about AI – not just how it works, but how to use it wisely, safely, and ethically.”
The education sector has become a significant area of focus for corporations and AI developers, with considerable investments pouring into initiatives designed to provide free, premium AI tools, chatbots, and coding curriculum to K-12 and higher education classrooms. Microsoft, for instance, has introduced new AI tools specifically for educators within Microsoft 365, as well as the standalone AI app, Microsoft Learning Zone, tailored for classroom lesson plans and activities. Google, a leader in classroom technology, has also rolled out numerous AI features for Google Classroom, Workspace for Education, and Chromebook users, including an education-specific Gemini integration and its own education Large Language Model (LLM).
In April, OpenAI announced a program offering two months of ChatGPT Plus for free to enrolled college students. This followed the launch of a free curriculum designed for K-12 teachers to integrate AI into their courses. Leah Belsky, OpenAI’s Vice President of Education, has publicly stated the company’s aspiration to establish AI as the “core infrastructure of higher education” and to increase chatbot usage among student populations, despite ongoing discussions about the technology’s effects on educators and potential long-term implications for student users.
