OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic have joined forces with major teachers’ unions to launch the National Academy for AI Instruction in an effort to redefine how artificial intelligence is integrated into American classrooms and education. The $23 million initiative aims to train 400,000 K-12 teachers, roughly one in ten nationwide, on how to use AI ethically and effectively in schools.

The program will provide workshops, online courses, and hands-on learning for educators beginning this fall, in New York City.

This initiative represents a collaboration between educators and the tech industry, as AI becomes increasingly relevant in modern teaching and pedagogy. Designed to ensure that teachers, not tech companies, steer AI’s use in schools, the academy offers a proactive response to growing concerns around digital equity, ethical usage, and student learning outcomes in an AI-driven world. While focused on education, the initiative has clear implications for CIOs across all sectors. It represents a realistic blueprint for human-centered technology adoption, especially in environments where digital literacy varies and stakeholder trust is critical.

This investment may become the model for workforce transformation, infrastructure planning, cross-sector partnerships, and ethical AI governance.

Why It Matters: With AI already reshaping industries, preparing students for the future means empowering their teachers today. This initiative bridges the digital divide by equipping educators with the knowledge and tools needed to use AI effectively and safely. Allowing teachers to shape students’ opinions and knowledge of AI will affect the future workforce and the ethics behind new technology. Teachers will now be placed at the center of AI integration, as co-creators and thought leaders.

• Building a Cross-Sector Alliance: The initiative is spearheaded by OpenAI with a $10 million contribution, Microsoft with $12.5 million, and Anthropic with a pledge of up to $500 million, in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Together, these organizations aim to establish a national model for AI-integrated instruction. By aligning their technical expertise with educator leadership, the partners are working to expand the reach, relevance, and responsible use of AI tools in classrooms across the country.

• Training Nationwide: Over the span of five years, the Academy will fund AI fluency for 400,000 educators through accessible training that includes in-person sessions, online modules, and customized curriculum development. The first starting flagship campus will be located in Manhattan. Training will focus on both foundational AI literacy and practical classroom applications, helping teachers integrate AI into lesson planning, differentiation, and student assessment.

• Closing Access Gaps: The program places emphasis on high-need school districts, ensuring that underserved communities are not left behind in the AI transition. Workshops and resources will be tailored to meet diverse classroom needs and regional gaps in digital resources. This initiative builds on existing AFT-led pilot programs and includes provisions to measure and report on equity outcomes over time, supporting long-term impact in historically underserved communities.

• Empowering Teachers: Educators will receive priority access to OpenAI’s tools, API credits, and engineering support to design classroom-specific AI applications. In return, tech firms will gather real-time feedback to refine their tools, allowing the applications to adapt to the needs of the educators and students. Rather than receiving off-the-shelf products, teachers will help shape tool development through ongoing feedback and collaboration with developers, redefining the teacher-tech relationship from passive user to empowered innovator.

• Addressing Risks and Challenges: While the promise of AI is celebrated, stakeholders, including AFT President Randi Weingarten and tech executives, emphasize the importance of ethical safeguards, student privacy protections, and preventing AI from fueling biases or reducing critical thinking. To address this, the curriculum will include dedicated modules on responsible AI use, data protection, and digital ethics. Educators will be trained to critically evaluate AI systems and set boundaries to ensure technology complements the systems already in place rather than replacing.

Go Deeper -> Working with 400,000 teachers to shape the future of AI in schools – OpenAI

Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic are investing millions to train teachers how to use AI – CNN

Expanded AI training for teachers, funded by OpenAI and Microsoft – Chalkbeat