AFT secures $23m for AI training

The American Federation of Teachers is building a national AI training program for educators with $23 million from Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic, shifting part of the school AI debate toward teacher training rather than student detection software. The union announced the National Academy for AI Instruction on July 8, 2025, with the United Federation of Teachers as a partner and a flagship site in Manhattan. The program is designed to offer free training and curriculum to AFT members, beginning with K-12 educators. The effort has also drawn scrutiny because the companies funding the training make some of the tools teachers are being taught to use. ### Where did the $23 million come from? The AFT said the $23 million initiative was launched with Microsoft as lead partner, OpenAI as founding partner and Anthropic as a partner, alongside the United Federation of Teachers. The union described it as the first partnership between a national union and technology companies built to create long-term AI education infrastructure. (aft.org) OpenAI said on July 8, 2025 that it would contribute $10 million over five years, including $8 million in direct funding and $2 million in in-kind support such as engineering help, computing access and technical guidance. The remaining backing comes from the other partners, though the public materials reviewed do not break out every contribution in the same detail. ### What is the academy supposed to do? The academy’s stated goal is to train 400,000 K-12 educators by 2030, or about one in 10 U.S. teachers, through workshops, online courses and hands-on sessions. (aft.org) AFT said the training would be free for its 1.8 million members, starting with K-12 teachers, and would expand nationally from the New York hub. (openai.com) K-12 Dive reported that the academy initially focused on AFT’s K-12 members before eventually opening to all educators, with an emphasis on access in high-need school districts. OpenAI said the program would also support curriculum development and additional hubs around the United States by 2030. ### Why is a teachers’ union running this instead of leaving it to school districts? Randi Weingarten, the AFT president, said teachers needed to be “in the driver’s seat” as schools adopt AI. (aft.org) In the union’s launch announcement, she said AI could enhance teaching and learning if educators learned to use it with “commonsense guardrails.” AFT’s case for the program rests partly on uneven district support. (k12dive.com) K-12 Dive cited a RAND report showing low-poverty districts were more likely than high-poverty districts to offer teacher AI training in 2024, at 67% versus 39%. That gap gave the union an opening to argue for a national training structure outside local district budgets. ### What are teachers actually being trained to do? (aft.org) The early training sessions have focused on classroom and back-office uses rather than automation of teaching jobs. Gothamist reported that teachers were shown ways to use AI for lesson planning, translation, communication with families and adapting materials for different learners, while academy staff said the aim was to help teachers use AI ethically and save time. (k12dive.com) Gallup data cited by OpenAI and K-12 Dive showed 6 in 10 educators were already using an AI tool during the 2024-25 school year, and frequent users reported saving about 5.9 to 6 hours a week. Those figures have been used by backers of the academy to argue that teachers are already using the tools and need structured guidance. ### Why has the program drawn criticism? Gothamist reported that some educators worried about the union partnering with companies whose products are reshaping classrooms. (gothamist.com) Those concerns included AI’s effect on students’ critical thinking, teen mental health, the environment and the future of teaching jobs. Weingarten herself has paired support for teacher training with calls for tighter limits on student-facing AI. (openai.com) In a May 27, 2026 speech, she called for an end to student-facing AI in elementary schools and a ban on “social companion” chatbots for students under 16, while saying she was not seeking a total ban on AI. The next phase is already mapped out. (gothamist.com) OpenAI said the academy is a five-year initiative running through 2030, with plans for more hubs beyond New York, while AFT said the training will continue to roll out first to K-12 educators and then more broadly. (openai.com) (aft.org)