Last August, TIME named Randi Weingarten to its TIME100 AI list, recognizing the American Federation of Teachers president for launching the National Academy for AI Instruction—a $23 million teacher-training partnership with Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI. "If you have a new technology that is as transformational as the printing press, shame on you if you hide from it," she told TIME at the time.

Today, in a speech at the National Press Club titled "Devices Down, Eyes Up, Hands On," Weingarten called for banning student-facing AI in elementary schools, banning screens in classrooms before third grade, banning "social companion" chatbots until age 16, and a new tax on Big Tech earnings.

The day before, Chalkbeat reported, Newark Public Schools issued a release about Weingarten's visit to see elementary students using Khanmigo, the AI-powered chatbot. "What I'm calling for is getting the balance right to harness the benefits of technology while mitigating the harms," she said Wednesday. Chalkbeat also reported Microsoft and OpenAI signed on to AFT's broader principles for AI in schools, though the union did not consult them on the tax proposal. Related, Gallup found most teachers still receive no formal AI guidance from their schools or districts (Axios, K-12 Dive).

How much union priorities translate into state policy varies widely. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute also dropped a new analysis updating its 2012 rankings of teacher union strength. Vermont, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Hawaii top the list; Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Mississippi sit at the bottom. Only a third of surveyed politicians and education leaders named the union as their state's most influential education actor — a sign, the researchers say, of how crowded the table has become.

The rest of today's edition is below.

-Thomas

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