The influence of large technology companies such as Google and Microsoft in U.S. schools is expanding beyond the supply of computers and software into teacher training, curricula and education policy. The shift is meant to cultivate talent for the age of artificial intelligence, but critics warn that Big Tech is now shaping public education itself.
The New York Times reported on the 23rd that in the United States, Big Tech has been credited with teaching students the latest technology skills and helping narrow the education gap. But criticism is also growing that private companies with vast funding and platforms are steering the direction of public education to fit their own interests, the newspaper said.
Big Tech Pours Tens of Billions of Won Into School AI Training
Last summer, an AI education event drew about 200 teachers in Manhattan, New York. The company running the training was Microsoft. Its employees showed teachers how to use the company's generative AI, Copilot, to draft emails to parents and create lesson plans tailored to individual students. They also presented AI education videos made with Minecraft Education, a version for children. Microsoft said the tool lets children learn about AI in advance, even before they are old enough to use it themselves.
A few days after Microsoft finished its training, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), one of the largest teachers' unions in the United States, announced a nationwide teacher AI training program. Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic backed it with 23 million dollars (about 31.8 billion won).
At the time, the AFT said the program would help teachers learn to use AI safely and ethically while allowing the education community's voice to be reflected in the development of AI products. But it also raised concerns about a conflict of interest, because a teachers' group meant to protect students from the risks of AI would be trained with money from companies that sell AI products.
According to the Times, Big Tech's influence does not stop at teacher AI training. Technology companies supply much of education's digital foundation, from the laptops and tablets used in U.S. schools to operating systems, student-device management programs, document and data-analysis applications, and messaging platforms between teachers and students.
Companies have gone a step further, sponsoring opinion polls and research reports that support expanding AI and computer science education, and pressing for legislation to have related subjects taught in schools. They sit on committees that set standards for public schools, provide teacher training and free materials for students, and fund major education groups such as the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and teachers' unions.
In some cases, a company's products are directly tied to the curriculum. Apple offers an Advanced Placement (AP) computer science course that teaches Swift, its own programming language used to build iPhone apps. Microsoft teaches an AP computer science course using Minecraft Education. The Times noted that there is no Raytheon-branded AP physics course, no DuPont AP chemistry and no Pfizer AP biology.
Google is cited as a leading example of tying corporate products to the curriculum. Google grew quickly in the U.S. education market by bundling free software such as Gmail with relatively inexpensive Chromebooks and supplying them to schools. According to data from the market research firm Futuresource Consulting, Chromebooks accounted for 59% of mobile devices shipped to U.S. schools last year.
Google emphasized that Chromebooks give students more educational opportunities and prepare them for college and future careers. But the Times analyzed that behind the free apps and low-cost devices lay a corporate strategy of getting young students used to Google services such as Gmail and Chrome early on, turning them into long-term customers.
Privacy concerns have also been raised. In 2019, Google agreed to pay 170 million dollars (about 235.1 billion won) to settle claims by U.S. regulators that YouTube had illegally collected children's personal data and used it for targeted advertising.
There is also growing debate over whether the digitization of schools has actually improved academic achievement. U.S. schools have poured tens of billions of dollars into classroom technology products over the past decade. But there is not enough evidence that laptops and learning apps have significantly improved overall student outcomes, and some schools have begun cutting back on the use of digital devices in the classroom, the Times reported.
Computer coding education draws particular attention. In 2011, Eric Schmidt, then Google's chairman, warned that British schools were not teaching computer science properly and that the country could fall behind in global competition. Microsoft argued that a lack of computer education in U.S. schools was keeping the technology industry from securing the software engineers it needed.
New York Times: 'The Downsides of the Tech Industry Went Unaddressed'
The Times said coding education has had positive effects, building students' logical thinking, abstraction and problem-solving skills. But it noted that technology companies used curricula to present themselves as positive forces driving innovation, without adequately addressing the downsides of the tech industry.
The situation has changed sharply with the AI boom. Technology companies that once called for expanding coding education, arguing they needed large numbers of programmers, are now using AI to generate software code. As Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft invest enormous sums in AI infrastructure while cutting thousands of jobs, computer-related majors are also facing a tougher job market.
Among teachers, parents, researchers and local government officials, resistance is growing to embracing AI as the "future of education" once again, before its educational benefits have been sufficiently proven. Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, which last year partnered with Microsoft and OpenAI to advance teacher AI training, this year argued that AI use by students should be held back in elementary schools.
As an alternative, some propose "technology civic education," which goes beyond teaching students how to use AI or coding programs to having them critically analyze the technology itself. The approach teaches students to ask themselves questions such as "Who built this technology," "Who makes money," "Who benefits," "How does it affect me and my family," and "What will happen 10 years from now."
The Times stressed that just as schools teach civics to help students understand the power of government, in the age of AI students must be equipped not only to use technology but also to understand and judge Big Tech's economic interests and technological power.
