Microsoft has new AI privacy rules for schools
| Source: The Verge AI
Tags: Microsoft, American Federation of Teachers, AI education, student privacy, AI policy, school AI
Microsoft and the American Federation of Teachers signed a 10-point, contractually enforceable AI privacy agreement banning student data training and AI companions — a direct response to NYC and LA's one-year AI bans imposed a week earlier.
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Microsoft committed to ten AI privacy principles in a new agreement with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its NYC affiliate the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). The terms are legally binding and can be incorporated into any school district's existing contract with Microsoft starting in November, without requiring full renegotiation.\n\nKey commitments include: not training AI models on student or educator data, limiting data collection, providing plain-language disclosures to families, banning AI companion features, and mandating human review for high-risk decisions.\n\nThe agreement follows New York City and Los Angeles implementing one-year bans on AI tools for many students in the same week. AFT President Randi Weingarten explicitly called the terms iron-clad, noting federal inaction on school AI policy as the reason the union negotiated directly with a vendor.\n\nThe AFT simultaneously received $23 million in funding for an AI training hub co-sponsored by Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Whether other school districts adopt the contractual terms remains to be seen.