--- title: What Kids Need to Thrive in an AI Economy description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/partner-content/charter/what-kids-need-to-thrive-in-an-ai-economy/ author: Michelle Peng article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-23T10:30:00.273Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-21T21:47:09.360Z article:section: Charter og:title: What Kids Need to Thrive in an AI Economy og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Aug 23, 2026 10:30 AM UTC  Art: Charter  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Aug 23, 2026 10:30 AM UTC Earlier this summer, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), sounded the alarm on AI in schools. “Artificial intelligence is triggering seismic shifts in virtually every aspect of society,” she said in a [speech](https://www.aft.org/press-release/devices-down-eyes-hands-weingarten-calls-screen-bans-ai-limits-active-learning-major) to the National Press Club, noting “our students are already feeling the impacts of this disruption.” As parents’ concerns about AI’s impact on learning and development mount, Weingarten called on schools to ban student-facing AI tools for elementary students, while investing in active learning that develops foundational skills at all ages. But the union itself isn’t made up of luddites, she says, recognizing that AI fluency will be critical for students preparing to enter the workforce—and for the teachers equipping them with those technical skills. The trick is to “make sure that human beings control technology, not the other way around,” she tells Charter. With millions of American students returning to classrooms this month, we reached out to Weingarten to learn more about the current state of the labor movement, the role AI should play in teaching and learning, and the critical skills students need for an AI economy. Here are excerpts from our conversation, edited for length and clarity: Sign up for Charter's newsletter to get the handbook for the future of work delivered to your inbox. Email Address You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our [Terms of Service](https://www.charterworks.com/terms-of-service/) and [Privacy Policy](https://www.charterworks.com/privacy-policy/). **Ahead of Labor Day, how would you describe the current state of the labor movement, both generally and in education?** The labor movement is at a precipice. Public approval for unions is at a record high. Workers in America see this huge increase in wealth inequality \[and many are concerned that\] if they don't have a union, they're not going to have economic security. When you have a union, salaries tend to be higher, healthcare tends to be better, and you actually have some retirement security and a voice on the job. At the same time, federal labor laws have gone unchanged for decades. In states that are dominated by anti-union forces, you have an attempt to constrain unions even more. Some[ 70% \[of Americans\] approve of unions](https://news.gallup.com/poll/694472/labor-union-approval-relatively-steady.aspx), yet the density \[or the percentage of US workers belonging to a union\] is at 10% because the laws have been arrayed against them. People really want to organize. The AFT has rolled up our sleeves to organize and secure contracts in the last two years, and we have grown to 1.875 million members, our biggest membership numbers ever. **What are the most important skills students need to enter an AI-powered economy?** \[They\] are the same skills and knowledge that the founders talked about 250 years ago. Critical thinking—being able to learn how to think, to understand context, to discern facts from fiction, to be able to communicate in a written and oral fashion, to be persistent if you trip and fall. The second most important is relational skills, or being able to work with others. Under the tutelage of a teacher, we also need to help kids learn how to use AI. Not only how to use AI in classrooms, but how to use AI in life, as long as we have adequate safeguards. By junior high or high school, we have to prepare kids to have a facility and an efficaciousness with AI, teaching not just what ChatGPT is, but how to guard against disinformation and misinformation. My fear is that if AI takes over at too young an age, we’ll see what we have already seen with screens, where we are losing the race for attention, cognition, and persistence. This is part of the reason why \[school districts including [Los Angeles Unified School District](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-06-23/lausd-strict-school-screen-time-limits)\] have banned or reduced screen time for the youngest kids, because we need to help our kids learn how to think and learn how to learn. If AI is part of instruction too early, learning gets offloaded to AI, and we're not building that muscle. **What do you see as the role of unions in brokering the rollout of AI?** We need to ensure that the benefits of it are felt by all of humanity, not simply for the tech bros who create it, and we need to do everything in our power to stop its harm. For kids to learn, teachers have to learn. That’s part of why we started the National Academy for AI Instruction. We wanted teachers who were trained in AI to help teach other teachers. Last year, about 14,000 teachers went through the Institute. This year we expect that there'll be about a hundred thousand more. When educators lead other educators, that translates into them being in the driver's seat when it comes to AI in classrooms. **For more on the role of unions in brokering AI adoption, read our** [**Q&A**](https://www.charterworks.com/liz-shuler-labor-management/) **with AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, our** [**coverage**](https://www.charterworks.com/the-role-of-unions-in-training-for-ai-at-scale/) **of the AFT’s National Academy for AI Instruction, and our** [**research spotlight**](https://www.charterworks.com/a-new-social-contract-that-helps-all-workers-benefit-from-ai/) **on how labor and management can bargain for better AI policies.** --- ## Read more from Charter [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/) [Open article: Sal Khan’s Vision for the Future of Education](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7381754/sal-khans-vision-for-the-future-of-education/)  ### Sal Khan’s Vision for the Future of Education [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7381754/sal-khans-vision-for-the-future-of-education/) [Open article: How to Succeed at Your First Job](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6276187/what-first-generation-graduates-need-from-their-workplaces/)  ### How to Succeed at Your First Job [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6276187/what-first-generation-graduates-need-from-their-workplaces/) [Open article: How to Not Be a Jerk in the Cutthroat College-Admissions Process](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6268335/college-admissions-cutthroat/)  ### How to Not Be a Jerk in the Cutthroat College-Admissions Process [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6268335/college-admissions-cutthroat/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/what-kids-need-to-thrive-in-an-ai-economy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/what-kids-need-to-thrive-in-an-ai-economy/"},"headline":"What Kids Need to Thrive in an AI Economy","datePublished":"2026-08-23T10:30:00.273Z","dateModified":"2026-08-21T21:47:09.360Z","description":"Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on what AI means for teaching and learning","url":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/what-kids-need-to-thrive-in-an-ai-economy/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c271e881f04703d/6a88c72a5fc85707b823eab0/charter-weingarten.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Peng","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/"}],"articleSection":"Charter","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c271e881f04703d/6a88c72a5fc85707b823eab0/charter-weingarten.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"charter-weingarten.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Art: Charter","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/what-kids-need-to-thrive-in-an-ai-economy/","name":"What Kids Need to Thrive in an AI Economy"}}]}] ```