Microsoft Will Provide $4 Billion to Schools, Community Colleges, Technical Colleges, and Nonprofits to Extend AI
- Microsoft will provide over $4 billion to schools, community colleges, technical colleges, and nonprofits to extend AI education.
- The company is launching the Microsoft Elevate Academy to provide AI skills training and certification to 20 million people.
- Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, aims to ensure that every student in every school across the country has access to AI education.
- Microsoft’s announcement comes as tech companies are racing to train millions of teachers and students on their AI tools, with several dozen companies signing a White House pledge for funding and support.
IBL News | New York
Microsoft announced this week that it will provide over $4 billion in cash, technology services, cloud computing credits, and resources to train students in schools, community colleges, technical colleges, and nonprofits on the use of AI.
The company, which develops the Copilot chatbot, is also launching the Microsoft Elevate Academy to provide AI skills training and certification to 20 million people.
Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, said in an interview, “Microsoft will serve as an advocate to ensure that students in every school across the country have access to AI education.”
The announcement came as tech companies are racing to train millions of teachers and students on their AI tools.
Last week, the American Federation of Teachers, a union representing 1.8 million members, announced the establishment of a national AI training center for educators, with $23 million in funding from Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Last week, several dozen companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI, signed a White House pledge promising to provide schools with funding, technology, and training materials for AI education.
In 2023, Amazon announced a new company program, “AI Ready,” to provide free online Amazon AI skills courses for two million people.