Teachers union president calls for limits on AI and screen time in schools

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is backing a parent-led movement to restrict how much time elementary school students spend on laptops in class.

The head of one of the country’s largest teachers unions called for limits on technology in schools in a speech Wednesday, including blocking most students from using computers in class until they reach third grade, prohibiting student-facing AI in elementary schools and banning “social companion” chatbots until age 16.

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Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, declared that students “are drowning in tech.” She proposed an independent research consortium to study the effects of AI and screens on student learning.

“Students need their teachers — real human beings, not robots and not chatbots,” she said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.