The next major AI battleground is the classroom, as Google, Microsoft and Anthropic race to make their tools the chatbots of choice for teachers and students.
Why it matters: Whoever wins schools now could shape how Gen Alpha learns, studies and interacts with AI for years to come.
The big picture: After early resistance, the floodgates are opening.
- When students began using ChatGPT for homework in late 2022, chatbots were widely seen as cheating tools to be banned or blocked.
- Now, across K–12 and higher education, that resistance is giving way to a broader acceptance that AI is here to stay — and that avoiding it could leave students unprepared for what comes next.
That shift has created an opportunity the tech giants are racing to seize.
Driving the news: Anthropic said Tuesday it will bring AI tools and training to more than 100,000 educators in 63 countries — reaching over 1.5 million students — through a partnership with Teach For All.
- On Wednesday, Google — whose Classroom product has been a K–12 mainstay for more than a decade — announced its most aggressive AI-in-education push yet. New Gemini features include SAT practice tests vetted with the Princeton Review, NotebookLM integration for blended research, and Gemini-powered writing feedback via Khan Academy.
- Microsoft last Thursday rolled out free AI training and premium software for educators and college students, offering credentials and scenario-based tools to integrate AI into teaching — from reducing special education admin to teaching AI with Minecraft.
Reality check: Ed tech companies have promised to transform education for decades, with many past innovations delivering mixed results at best — often reinforcing existing economic and resource divides.
- AI may be more powerful, but educators are already skeptical of sweeping claims.
That skepticism may be forcing AI companies to rethink their approach.
Between the lines: Teachers in Anthropic's program will be able to provide feedback that helps shape how the product evolves.
- "What makes this partnership different is that teachers are co-architects. They're building tools tailored to their own classrooms and shaping how Claude develops for education," Anthropic head of beneficial deployments Elizabeth Kelly tells Axios.
- Google is making its viral study tool NotebookLM available inside Gemini, allowing students to ask questions that combine web results with teacher-approved materials — and lowering adoption friction for schools already in its ecosystem.
What we're watching: Privacy advocates and parents haven't always trusted Big Tech with student data.
- Companies are required to follow the strict Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) on student data, but those protections can disappear after graduation — for example when high school graduates are encouraged to convert school Google accounts to personal ones.
- The penalty for violating FERPA is the loss of federal funding, but the law lacks real enforcement, Elizabeth Laird, director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, told Axios last year.
- It "has been enforced exactly zero times. Literally never," Laird said.
What they're saying: Education leaders and child data privacy advocates say AI can support learning — but warn schools not to confuse speed with preparedness.
- "Youth habits drive markets," Tammy Wincup, CEO of Securly, tells Axios. She believes most AI companies want to improve education, but they're also after product loyalty. "We must help schools and parents keep safety and wellness top of mind as the AI competition for school usage ramps up."
The bottom line: The AI giants are making an all-out push to be Gen Alpha's favorite.
