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UFT Testimony

Testimony on the risks posed by artificial intelligence

UFT Testimony
Testimony of UFT Vice President for Education Mary Vaccaro before the City Council on Examining the Risks Posed by Artificial Intelligence

My name is Mary Vaccaro, and I am the vice president for education at the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). On behalf of the union’s 200,000 members, I want to thank Speaker Julie Menin and the entire City Council for holding this hearing on the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The UFT has been intensely focused on this pressing issue as we witness the ways AI is changing how our children learn, communicate and navigate everyday life.

In September, I stood before the City Council Committees on Education and Oversight and Investigations and shared the work the UFT has been doing to circumvent the risks posed by AI. We were one of the very first entities to push a major AI giant to acknowledge that safeguards must be built into technology and that users must have transparency, safety and control over the programs they use. Today, I would like to reaffirm our commitment to this work and highlight how we are empowering educators, protecting students and informing families and communities.

The UFT has played a pivotal role in creating and running the American Federation of Teachers’(AFT) National Academy for AI Instruction (Academy), which is based here in New York City. The Academy helps educators meet the challenges of AI in schools and in society. Our mission is to strengthen the human side of teaching while preparing educators and students to use AI responsibly, creatively and critically. Every Academy program is built directly on the AFT’s Commonsense Guardrails for Using Advanced Technology in Schools. In less than a year, the Academy has provided professional learning on AI to 13,000 educators, and we continue to expand our outreach to all 1.8 million members of the AFT across the country.

Additionally, at the beginning of September 2026, we agreed to a landmark AI Safety and Privacy Standard for Schools (AI Standard) with Microsoft that establishes protections for AI use in education. This AI Standard is a binding memorandum of agreement between the Academy and any AI provider that the Academy engages with to provide services to students and educators. The protections within the AI Standard are centered around three main priorities: protecting student and educator privacy, enhancing safety and providing transparency and control for families. Notably, these protections are not just for the AFT AI Academy; beginning in November 2026, this AI Standard will become available to every school district in the United States. Districts will be able to add these contractually enforceable protections to new or existing agreements with Microsoft, with no contract renegotiation or renewal required. 

To bolster our work with educators, we have broadened our scope to include families and community members. On Sept. 25, 2026, we held a conference with our state affiliate, New York State United Teachers, titled “Unplugged: Reclaiming Human-Centered Education.” This event was attended by over 500 educators, parents, lawmakers, medical experts and advocates, who discussed how schools can use technology and AI as supplementary tools while centering human connection. On Oct. 3, 2026, the Academy held an all-day session for families at UFT headquarters to discuss what AI can and cannot do; AI’s impact on learning and development; what’s at stake for our children’s privacy, critical thinking and well-being; and what happens when technology does too much thinking for a developing mind. These sessions equipped families and key decision-makers with the tools and information necessary to have important conversations about AI and ensure it’s used responsibly across all sectors of our society.

Finally, we know that AI poses the greatest threat to our schools and communities if it is not rolled out thoughtfully and with clear guidelines. The UFT supports New York City’s one-year moratorium on generative AI in schools and urges the Department of Education to think about what comes next after this ban. We encourage the city to look at AFT President Randi Weingarten’s 10-point plan aimed at directing and protecting student engagement in the AI era. The city should also turn to the resolution New York State United Teachers passed last May that put forth recommendations for limits on classroom technology. The recommendations include:

  1. No one-to-one devices or online testing in pre-kindergarten through grade 2, except to support students with documented needs such as translation or special education.
  2. A paper-and-pencil testing option for every student, as called for in NYSUT’s “More Teaching, Less Testing” report.
  3. No student-facing AI for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 2.
  4. No noneducational AI for students in grades 3 through 8.
  5. AI use in any grade only when it is supervised, educator-led and designed to build critical thinking skills, digital literacy and civic readiness — not to replace human instruction, creativity or judgment.
  6. No “social companion” chatbots — programs that simulate human relationships — for children under 16.

I thank you again for your time and attention to this pressing matter. We are immersed in the work of protecting our schools from the potentially harmful effects of AI, and we look forward to continuing to engage in this work with you as our partner.