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Artificial intelligence

Tech Industry's A.I. Push in Classrooms Raises Concerns and Hopes

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is launching an A.I. training hub for educators, backed by $23 million in funding from Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, to provide hands-on workshops for teachers on how to use A.I. tools for tasks like generating lesson plans. The National Academy for A.I. Instruction, starting in New York City, aims to be a training space where school staff and teachers can learn about A.I., its applications, and how to use it wisely, safely, and ethically. This move is part of a broader effort by U.S. tech companies to reshape education with generative A.I. chatbots, which have sparked concerns about misinformation and the potential erosion of critical thinking skills.

Key Takeaways:

  • The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is launching an A.I. training hub for educators with $23 million in funding from Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
  • The National Academy for A.I. Instruction will provide hands-on workshops for teachers on how to use A.I. tools for tasks like generating lesson plans and creating content.
  • Generative A.I. chatbots, like OpenAI's ChatGPT, can produce humanlike essays, research summaries, and class quizzes, but concerns have been raised about the potential for misinformation and the erosion of critical thinking skills.
  • The industry funding is part of a drive by U.S. tech companies to reshape education with A.I. chatbots, with some tech executives hoping A.I. will become the fourth R ("Reading, writing, arithmetic, and learning how to use A.I.")
  • Union experts have raised alarms about the industry's practices, including the training of A.I. models on swaths of texts scraped from the internet without compensating writers and other creators.
  • The AFT is developing A.I. school-use guidelines to address some of the concerns, including input from teachers on A.I. tool development and potential classroom uses.
  • The union's partnership with Microsoft formally began last summer with an A.I. symposium in Chicago, and it has also started working with OpenAI.
  • The National Academy for A.I. Instruction will be located in the downtown Manhattan headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, with Microsoft providing $12.5 million for the A.I. training effort over the next five years and OpenAI contributing $8 million in funding and $2 million in technical resources.

Statistics:

  • 1.8 million members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
  • 200 New York City teachers participated in an A.I. workshop at their union headquarters.
  • 5 years - the duration of Microsoft's funding commitment for the A.I. training effort.
  • $23 million - the total funding provided by Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic for the A.I. training hub.
  • $12.5 million - the amount of funding provided by Microsoft for the A.I. training effort over 5 years.
  • $8 million - the amount of funding provided by OpenAI for the A.I. training effort.
  • $2 million - the amount of technical resources provided by OpenAI for the A.I. training effort.
  • $500,000 - the amount of funding provided by Anthropic for the first year of the effort.

Sources:

  • The New York Times
  • American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
  • Microsoft
  • OpenAI
  • Anthropic
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • University Council-A.F.T. Local 1474
  • Ahmed Gaber (photographer)
  • University Council-A.F.T. Local 1474

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