The American Federation of Teachers, its New York affiliate, the United Federation of Teachers and Microsoft announced the “National AI Safety and Privacy Standard.” The standards are outlined in an agreement between AFT and Microsoft detailing a number of legally enforceable commitments governing the use of AI tools when student and/or teacher data is involved.
Under the contract, Microsoft agreed to several practices which include: 1) refraining from the use of student and teacher data to train AI models (with a narrow set of exceptions); 2) keep humans in the loop on AI-driven decisions affecting students; 3) providing clear descriptions and explanations to parents and districts regarding the mechanisms used as part of the AI tool; and 4) permitting districts to own data generated through the AI system by their own teachers and students. The agreement permits districts to add these standards to new or existing customer agreements with Microsoft without renegotiation of other provisions or otherwise renewing their current agreement.
This agreement comes amid anticipation of federal regulations governing AI and criticism from various educational stakeholders that such guidance is overdue. This agreement is evidence of the appetite of educational institutions to have nationally recognized AI guardrails in place. Until such time, a new partnership-type between educators and Big Tech may continue to emerge to fill the gap.
AFT, the nation’s second-largest teachers union, described the “first of its kind” agreement as an effort to fill a void left by the absence of meaningful federal and state regulations on AI in schools. Efforts to pass federal legislation to establish AI guardrails in schools have not come to fruition.
The announcement comes amid a broader backlash against the role of technology in schools, including growing bipartisan scrutiny of Big Tech and a nationwide push to limit classroom screentime for younger children.
“We want parents to have control of their kids’ education,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said Wednesday. “We want educators to have control of kids’ education, not ed tech and that’s what this agreement is.”
