Microsoft offers free AI tools to teachers and students

The big picture: The free training and subscriptions are part of Microsoft's new Elevate initiative to provide AI skills, tools, and resources to educators, nonprofits and underserved communities.

• It also ties into Microsoft's broader commitments to communities hosting its AI data centers.
• Two pillars of Microsoft's five-point plan announced earlier this week focus on supporting local schools and expanding AI training.

Between the lines: Spelhaug told Axios that the effort is aimed at improving access to AI skills.

• "The question put to all of us — especially technology companies — is what can we do to widen the circle of opportunity," he says. "So we don't leave people behind."
• Thursday's announcement includes free AI-focused professional development and AI credential programs for any teacher or administrator who needs it and free limited subscriptions to premium versions of Microsoft Copilot and LinkedIn Premium for eligible college students.

Reality check: AI in the classroom has had a rocky rollout. Schools first banned chatbots and then about-faced to welcome them.

• When used without supervision, chatbots are widely seen as cheating machines and pose real dangers to teenagers.
• Now three years into the chatbot boom, school administrators are increasingly accepting that AI is here to stay.

Yes, but: Teachers, administrators and parents still struggle to teach students how to use the tools to help them learn — instead of doing the work for them.

• Fancy AI literacy programs and lower student-to-teacher ratios that allow for adequate supervision are not distributed equally in the U.S.
• Consider Alpha School, the private school that uses AI to generate personalized learning plans and offers kids access to coaches with six-figure salaries, in place of underpaid teachers.
• Tuition for the school starts at $40,000 per year. At its San Francisco campus, tuition is $75,000 per year.

Follow the money: Spelhaug says he wants to bridge the AI digital divide with Elevate's $4 billion pledge in cash and technology over five years.

• "It's really pinned to the idea of helping communities benefit from the opportunities that AI can create," he tells Axios.
• "It's about strengthening systems and thinking about how schools and education systems connect to workforce systems and are backed by nonprofit organizations that help some of the least privileged in our society participate."

Friction point: Since the effort is linked to Microsoft's announcements to support the communities burdened by its energy-hungry data centers, these freebies are also an effort to offset the growing opposition to the physical infrastructure that supports AI.

• "The tension is very real," Spelhaug says, adding that the initiative is about partnering with these communities and listening to them. "They have legitimate concerns on energy, on water, on tax base, on jobs and on community opportunity. And we need to step up."

What we're watching: The open question is whether free access and training will be enough to help all educators and students benefit from AI — or whether better-funded districts will continue to pull further ahead.