Teachers Unions and Microsoft Set New National AI Safety Standard

The American Federation of Teachers and Microsoft have collaborated to create a legally binding national standard for artificial intelligence safety and privacy in schools.

The National AI Safety & Privacy Standard, negotiated between the AFT, United Federation of Teachers, and Microsoft, ensures that student and teacher data is protected from being used to train AI models, sold or repurposed. School districts can now write these protections directly into their Microsoft contracts.

AFT President Randi Weingarten stated, 'We have forged a hard-fought, iron-clad privacy agreement with real teeth that protects students and families.' The standard prohibits companies from making decisions about students without human oversight and requires them to provide plain-language explanations of the tools used in schools.