Microsoft is at the forefront of cutting-edge AI development. The company has massive influence in the direction this technology will take moving into the future. Yet, Microsoft’s leadership appears to be allowing the American Federation of Teachers to influence how AI will be implemented in the nation’s schools.
The reality of the matter is that AI will play a significant role in the future of education. That is an inevitable fact that is beginning to unfold at an increasingly swift pace, but this is not necessarily terrible either. AI can be a beneficial tool for America’s classrooms if we can ensure bad actors do not have any sway in how this technology is created or integrated.
Unfortunately, that is where the problem arises.
In early September, Microsoft announced a “National AI Safety & Privacy Standard” with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to establish “legally enforceable protections to ensure the safety of students, families and educators.” Microsoft claims that this so-called standard “allows any school in America to incorporate these protections into their agreements with Microsoft and hold Microsoft accountable to them.”
This new standard seems innocuous at first with goals to protect the privacy of students, ensure human oversight, and create greater transparency. Schools can add ten new “contractually enforceable protections” into their agreements with Microsoft. While most of these protections make sense, Microsoft noticeably has one listed as “equity, accessibility, and inclusion.” The AFT’s influence is loud and clear.
The reality is that this should come as a surprise to no one. The AFT has notoriously pushed schools to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in recent years. Last year, the AFT adopted a resolution to promote mandating staff to use the preferred pronouns of students, allowing access to facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms that match a student’s preferred gender identity, and allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports.
The AFT even supports allowing children to undergo medical procedures to have sex changes. The teachers’ union explains that it will “advocate for the availability of gender-affirming medical care and a full range of family planning medical care no matter an individual’s state of residence and that these services be fully covered by medical insurance.”
Microsoft’s leadership knew very well what the AFT supports and endorses. This is the same company that reversed course and began walking back its DEI initiatives after the 2024 election. These actions now seem to be nothing more than a poor attempt from Microsoft to save face when DEI was no longer in vogue.
While this partnership may reflect poorly on Microsoft as a respectable corporation, this is not the first time the company has partnered with the AFT.
In 2025, Microsoft partnered with the AFT to launch the National Academy for AI Instruction. The union described this effort as a “$23 million education initiative” that would “provide access to free AI training and curriculum for all 1.8 million members of the AFT, starting with K-12 educators.” This program was explicitly created with the idea in mind that “bias” and “equity” exist in AI.
Microsoft’s leadership knew this before the academy was launched and certainly knew about the AFT’s political aspirations before establishing the National AI Safety and Privacy Standard with the union. DEI does not belong in AI, but those in charge at Microsoft appear to think otherwise.
How can we trust Microsoft to usher in the future of AI when they are more obsessed with cozying up to an organization intent on allowing men to compete in women’s sports than ensuring they create products that benefit the general populace?
The answer is simple. We can’t.
Microsoft’s continued partnership with the AFT is yet another example of a giant corporation attempting to align with what its leaders believe will be the politically safe bet moving into the future. They think that the public’s current sentiment against DEI initiatives will eventually swing the other way in the not-so-distant future, and they simply want to be ahead of the curve.
If Microsoft is serious about ushering in a new era of AI that ensures the safety and privacy of students and teachers, then the company’s priorities need to be reevaluated. Microsoft must drop all attempts to include DEI in current and future AI policies and standards. The company must also drop all partnerships and communication with the AFT starting now.
The AFT is nothing more than a political organization that prioritizes radical gender ideology over actually improving classrooms for our nation’s students. Any company that partners with them compromises their credibility.
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