September 14, 2026

TYLER O’NEIL: Parents ‘Intentionally Left Out’ of AI Strategy Discussions Between Microsoft, Left-Leaning Teachers Union, Critics Say.

Microsoft teamed up with America’s second-largest teachers union to release a “National AI Safety & Privacy Standard” Wednesday, and critics are warning about the union’s left-leaning bias and the coalition’s apparent absence of engagement with parent associations or parental rights groups.

The American Federation of Teachers, its New York City affiliate United Federation of Teachers, and Microsoft jointly presented the standard, aiming to establish “legally enforceable protections to ensure the safety of students, families, and educators” following “months of intense negotiations and in the absence of any meaningful federal and state rules.”

Microsoft says the policy will go into effect on Nov. 1 for every school district that already has contracts with the company, and districts will not have to wait until renewal or to opt in.

“We have forged a hard-fought, iron-clad privacy agreement with real teeth that protects students and families, because no one else, including the federal government, has stepped up to do the real work,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said.

The AI company Anthropic, when launching its Claude for Teachers program, noted that it, too, was working with AFT “to align our terms and privacy practices with gold standards they’re developing.”

Yet critics sounded the alarm.

“After reviewing this agreement, one thing is clear: Parents were intentionally left out of the equation,” Tina Descovich, CEO of the parental rights group Moms for Liberty, told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Could Weingarten fail this far upward?

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll