A new partnership between New York City’s teachers union and Big Tech companies has some educators wondering whether they’re at the forefront of improving instruction through artificial intelligence or welcoming a Trojan horse that threatens learning.
The American Federation of Teachers, the umbrella organization for the local United Federation of Teachers union, announced Tuesday it’s teaming up with Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic on a $23 million initiative to offer free AI training and software to AFT members. The investment, which is being covered by the companies, includes creating a new training space dubbed the “National Center for AI” on a floor of the UFT headquarters in Lower Manhattan.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said at a press conference that some of his union’s educators started trainings this month, adding that the initiative will expand nationally over the next year. The initiative is aimed at K-12 teachers, is voluntary and focuses on tasks like lesson planning, according to the union and companies. AI can summarize texts and create worksheets and assessments.
“This tool could truly be a great gift to the children of this country and to education overall,” Mulgrew said. “But we're not going to get there unless it's driven by the people doing the work in the most important place in education, which is the classroom.”
Some teachers said they are skeptical about the initiative. Jia Lee, a special education teacher at the Earth School in the East Village, likened the arrangement to “letting the fox in the henhouse” and said she was “horrified” to see the union linking arms with the tech companies.
“I think a lot of educators would say we’re not anti-AI, we just have concerns about a lot of things that have not been explained or researched yet,” Lee said.
City education officials have sent mixed signals about integrating AI in classrooms. The local education department initially blocked OpenAI tool ChatGPT in schools in 2023, then lifted the ban. Schools spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said the agency is working on a “framework” for AI use, but declined to comment on the union’s new initiative.
Gerry Petrella, Microsoft's general manager for U.S. policy, said the partnership would help the company figure out how to integrate AI into education “in a responsible and safe way.” He said he hoped AI tools would save teachers time so they could focus more on students and their individual needs.
National surveys show the technology is already creeping into students’ and teachers’ lives. A Harvard University survey last fall found half of high-school and college students use AI for some schoolwork, while a new Gallup poll found 60% of teachers reported using AI at some point over the past school year.
Annie Read Boyle, a fourth-grade teacher at P.S. 276 in Battery Park, said she hasn’t used AI much but is impressed with what she’s seen so far. Last year, she used a product called Diffit when she was teaching about the American Revolution.
“I said, ‘I want an article that's fourth-grade level,’ and in 10 seconds [it] spit out this beautiful worksheet that would've taken me hours to create,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is really impressive and it just saved me so much time.’”
Boyle said she could imagine similar tools differentiating assignments based on students’ learning styles, abilities or language. Still, she cited concerns about data privacy, copyright infringement in materials and encouraging students to take shortcuts instead of developing critical-thinking skills.
“It's such an important tool for teachers to know how to use so that we can teach the kids but it could really hurt the development process for kids,” she said, adding that she is also concerned about AI’s environmental impact and potential to drive job loss.
AFT President Randi Weingarten said Tuesday she hoped to learn from past mistakes involving technology, including social media’s harms on young people’s mental health. She said the union’s partnership with tech companies is a way to influence how AI is used with children.
“We can also make sure we have the guardrails we need to protect the safety and security of kids,” said Weingarten, whose union includes 1.8 million members nationwide. “That is now becoming our job. … We have to have a phone line back to [tech hub] Seattle.”
