As educators, we are lifelong learners who are open to new technologies and strategies for enhancing our practice. Artificial intelligence is a rapidly evolving field that is affecting every aspect of our lives, including education. It is incumbent on us to add our voices to help shape and develop AI to ensure it is used to support teaching and learning, not to hurt us and our profession. We need to be well-versed in this transformative technology as we prepare our students for a workforce that will integrate AI proficiencies and a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on its power.

That’s why over the summer, the UFT and the AFT launched the National Academy for AI Instruction, a $23 million partnership with three technology companies at the forefront of AI. At this first-of-its-kind teacher institute, which will be housed at UFT headquarters in Manhattan, our members, as well as K–12 educators from AFT affiliates across the country, will take courses and workshops to learn about the ethical use of AI technologies and how best to incorporate this tool into our own work and what we teach our students.

AI is rapidly transforming our economy and our world. We cannot sit by and have it pushed on schools without our input. Educators need to be in the driver’s seat since we are the experts; we know what we and our students need in the classroom. When we appropriately incorporate AI tools into our practice, we can get past the grunt work and do our best work: devoting more time to teaching and interacting with our students. At the end of the day, there can be no substitute for the human connection between an educator and a student.