American Federation of Teachers join Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic to launch free AI academy

The largest teachers’ union in the country – representing millions of staff members within the American education system – has united its forces with some of the best players in the AI ​​world to prepare for another generation of technology informed educators.

Announced on Tuesday July 8 by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the New York teacher Federation, based in New York, as well as the Microsoft, Openai and Anthropic technology giants, the new National Academy for IAL teaching will channel $ 23 million to the IA training and program for all 1.8 million members of the Union.

The objective of the program and its brick and mortar installations in Manhattan – an original idea of ​​the Roy Bahat venture capital and modeled according to other high -tech training centers – is to create a “national model for study programs integrated into AI”, according to the coalition, focused on skills workshops, online courses and practical training. Microsoft will invest $ 12.5 million in the training program, with an additional $ 8 million OPENAI and $ 500,000 in anthropic funding, the New York Times Reports. OPENAI will also provide $ 2 million in technical resources.

“”To serve students at best, we must make sure that teachers have a strong voice in the development and use of AI. This partnership will not only help teachers learn to better use AI, but will give them the opportunity to tell technological companies how we can create an AI that serves children better, “said Brad Smith, Vice-President and President of Microsoft.

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Directed by the rear, the Academy will start with a cohort of trainees based in New York in the fall, with plans across the country on a later date. Technology and labor partners say they expect to train 400,000 educators over the next five years.

Microsoft, the main partner of the Academy, has teamed up with the American Labor Federation and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 2023, intended to start a dialogue on the early disturbance of the global workforce following several successful organizational efforts among Microsoft workers. The company has also accepted neutrality executives with America’s communication workers and AFL-CIO, guaranteeing collective negotiation possibilities for workers looking for IA protections.

“The direct link between a teacher and their children can never be replaced by new technologies, but if we learn to exploit it, to define good sense railing and to put teachers in the driver’s seat, teaching and learning can be improved,” wrote the president of AFT, Randi Weingarten. “The Academy is a place where educators and school staff will learn AI – not just how it works, but how to use it wisely, safely and ethically.”

As a whole, AI companies and developers have placed huge bets in the field of education, in particular by investing millions in initiatives designed to obtain free AI tools, chatbots and coding programs in classrooms in higher education and higher education. Microsoft, for example, has launched new AI tools designed specifically for teachers on Microsoft 365,, As well as an AI autonomous application, Microsoft Learning Zone, focused on class levels and activities. Google, which leads industry into class technology, has put online with a plethora of AI features for Google Classroom, Workspace for Education and users of Chromebook, including gemini integration specific to education, as well as its own LLM education.

In April, Openai announced that it would offer free two months of chatgpt more to registered students, after the launch of a free program for kindergarten teachers in the 12th year to integrate AI into their courses. Openai’s vice-president of education, Leah Belsky, says that the company hopes to make AI “the central higher education infrastructure” and increase the use of the chatbot among student populations, despite the concerns concerning the affect of technology on educators and potential side effects for students.