Microsoft commits to sweeping AI privacy rules for students. Will other tech giants follow?

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SynopsisAs the school year started, the country's two largest school districts, New York City and Los Angeles, announced they were putting the brakes on student use of AI for one year, as they study how to best incorporate the technology into education.

Agenciestech giant microsoft continues layoffsMillions of students every day turn to AI chatbots for help with schoolwork, emotional support and personal advice - often unaware of where their conversations and other personal information end up.

How that data is used - and schools' role in protecting it - is a growing concern for educators, parents and kids as artificial intelligence becomes a ubiquitous part of the school day, embedded in many of the classroom tools students are required to use.

As the school year started, the country's two largest school districts, New York City and Los Angeles, announced they were putting the brakes on student use of AI for one year, as they study how to best incorporate the technology into education.

In response to a growing AI and screentime backlash, Microsoft announced last week it had agreed to adopt guardrails and privacy standards for its AI in schools, as negotiated with the American Federation of Teachers, the country's second-largest teachers union.

The safety provisions in the agreement are meaningful, but the standards will only be effective if all AI companies, especially the tech giants, sign on, said Josh Golin, executive director of online safety nonprofit Fairplay. He said the agreement sidesteps the question of whether AI products even belong in classrooms, or at what age they should be introduced.

"I worry that a high-profile framework like this will be misunderstood and schools will think, 'If they're doing a good job on data privacy and safety, then that means we should be using the tool,'" Golin said.

The AFT said the agreement, which is legally binding and requires third-party audits for compliance, could set an industry standard. Two other leading AI companies, OpenAI and Anthropic, said they also were discussing safety and privacy pacts with the AFT. But Google, the dominant provider of education technology for America's schools, has not said whether it plans to offer similar protections.

As part of the wide-ranging agreement, Microsoft says it will not use student or educator data to train AI systems, apart from a narrow exception for data that could help protect students. It says the data it collects cannot be sold, used for advertising or used for product development.

The agreement prohibits any use of AI companions or features "designed to foster emotional attachment or dependency" and to keep students engaged for longer than a learning task requires. It also includes a range of audit and transparency measures that require the company to disclose to families, in plain language, how its tools work.

"This standard sets a high bar for child privacy and AI safety, and we'll extend this agreement to every school district across the country," Brad Smith, Microsoft's vice chair and president, said in a statement. The standards will apply to all schools that Microsoft has contracts with starting Nov. 1, he said.

AFT President Randi Weingarten called the agreement the "first of its kind" and an important step to setting an industry standard in the absence of federal and state legislation on AI in schools.

"We want parents to have control of their kids' education. We want educators to have control of kids' education, not ed tech. And that's what this agreement is," Weingarten said.

She spoke at a joint news conference with Smith at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, the AFT's New York City affiliate. The headquarters is home to AFT's National Academy for AI Instruction for teachers, which launched a year ago backed by $23 million from Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Along with their yearlong AI moratorium, the school systems for New York City and Los Angeles plan extensive audits of their education technology contracts and AI tools, with a focus on data privacy, transparency and accountability. The ban in New York City applies to all elementary and middle school students, while in Los Angeles it extends through high school.

Weingarten said she contacted Google directly to tell them about the agreement before making it public, in hopes the company would become a signatory.

The company has not responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press on whether it plans to offer similar protections.