Microsoft, Teachers' Unions Unveil National AI Safety Standard for US Schools
Microsoft and major US teachers' unions have announced a national AI safety and privacy standard for schools, banning student-data AI training and requiring human oversight.
Microsoft has joined forces with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to introduce a new 'National AI Safety & Privacy Standard' designed to protect students, families, and educators in the age of artificial intelligence.
The agreement establishes firm boundaries for AI use in educational settings. Under the new framework, technology companies will be barred from using student data to train AI models. Additionally, the standard prohibits the tracking of individual students and ensures that AI systems cannot make decisions affecting students without human oversight.
Transparency is another cornerstone of the initiative. Tech firms will be required to provide educators and parents with clear, plain-language explanations of how their AI tools function, moving away from opaque technical jargon.
A key feature of the agreement is its enforceability. US school districts will be able to incorporate these protections directly into their customer agreements with Microsoft, making the rules contractually binding. This allows schools to hold tech providers legally accountable for compliance.
Microsoft has announced that starting November 1, the protections outlined in the AI Safety & Privacy Standard will be made available to every school district across the United States, signaling a major step toward standardized AI governance in education.