In online media outlets, a publicly accessible YouTube livestream page surfaced on Monday, apparently published early by mistake and offering a first look at a new AI training center for educators. The listing named Microsoft and OpenAI as principal backers of the National Academy for AI Instruction, a program designed specifically for members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest union of educators. It showed that the launch event will take place on Tuesday in New York City, with union officials and executives from the tech firms scheduled to present. Observers monitoring educational technology initiatives caught the page before it was taken down ahead of the formal announcement.
The YouTube description laid out the academy’s mission and its collaborators. Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot, appears as a key partner in the $22.5 million project, which will deliver free “AI training and curriculum” to kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers. The page emphasized that the program’s resources will be open to all AFT members at no cost, aiming to remove financial barriers to professional development around artificial intelligence tools. The description noted that the livestream would be open to the public, with no attendance fee or subscription needed.
It noted that the academy, based in New York City, seeks to equip instructors with “the tools and confidence to bring AI into the classroom in a way that supports learning and opportunity for all students,” offering materials intended to ease the integration of machine learning models into daily lesson plans.
Representatives for Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and the AFT did not reply to requests for comment after the pages appeared online. On Monday, Microsoft spokespeople and union staff declined to offer further information outside a brief statement that the partners would share details at Tuesday’s public event.
Adoption of AI chatbots in classrooms surged as more students turned to tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini for help with assignments, sometimes before teachers could develop usage policies. The quick uptake of these platforms highlighted a gap between student access and teacher readiness.
Those chatbots can simplify tasks such as essay writing or homework solutions, but inaccuracies and invented facts have sparked worries among parents, educators and employers about whether students will miss out on mastering critical thinking, research methods and problem-solving skills through traditional instruction.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has argued that educators must have a seat at the table in how AI is integrated into their profession. She believes a dedicated training center could help teachers keep pace with rapidly evolving AI capabilities and adapt their curriculum to prepare students for a world in which these systems play a central role.
Some AFT members may push back, concerned that the commercial goals of tech giants could shape classroom practices and learning materials. Google, Apple and Microsoft have long competed for school market share, aiming to turn children into future customers. Microsoft and OpenAI, though once closely aligned, have divided paths amid intensifying competition.
Last week, professors at universities in the Netherlands issued an open letter urging campus leaders to reconsider financial partnerships with AI companies and to prohibit generative tools in coursework. Broad bans have proven difficult to enforce as usage climbs, leaving AI vendors, employers and labor unions to seek a shared framework for ethical integration.
This academy follows a December 2023 collaboration between Microsoft and the AFL-CIO, the federation of labor unions, on creating and deploying AI-driven systems. In that deal, Microsoft committed to working with the American Federation of Teachers—an AFL-CIO affiliate—to explore training programs for employees and students around these technologies.
The AFT’s own website notes that it represents roughly 1.8 million workers, ranging from kindergarten through 12th-grade educators to school nurses and college staff. By contrast, the National Education Association, which stands as the largest teachers’ union in the U.S., counts close to 3 million members.
The partners plan to formalize these details at a public event on Tuesday morning in New York City, where union leaders and tech executives will outline next steps for the National Academy for AI Instruction. The listing said the livestream will be accessible online, with no login required and a chat window for audience questions.