Mark Zuckerberg's wife Priscilla Chan invested

What happened

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been blamed for thousands of job losses around the world but now it is being blamed for shutting down a school also. As per reports, a free school for poor kids in the US is being shut down as the fund meant for it now is going to be invested in AI.

More than half of its eighth-grade students reached grade-level proficiency in their final year, while 85 per cent of students completed annual health checkups, well above the county's Medicaid average. To ease the transition, CZI has pledged $5 million, including money to cover the school's lease, support local organizations, and fund education savings accounts. Elementary school students will receive $10,000 each, preschoolers $2,500, and children in early childhood education $1,000.

Why it matters

As per reports, the school was founded by Priscilla Chan, wife of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for children from low-income families. The school is now being shut down after nearly a decade as Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is shifting its priorities away from education and community programs toward artificial intelligence and biomedical research.

The Primary School, co-founded by Chan in 2016, will close after the 2025-26 academic year, affecting nearly 540 students across two campuses in California. The school offered far more than free education, providing dental care, health screenings, mental health support, and coaching for parents. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative had invested more than $125 million in the school.

However, it informed the school's board that it would stop funding the project beyond the 2025-26 school year. Board president Jean-Claude Brizard said several options for keeping the school open were discussed with CZI, but the closure would not have happened without the approval of its biggest financial backer. A CZI spokesperson said the final decision rested with the school's board.

The announcement has devastated many families who depended on the school's wraparound support. The closure comes despite the school's strong academic record. According to a Stanford University report, 26 per cent of students at The Primary School exceeded literacy standards, compared with 14 per cent in nearby schools.

What to watch

School leaders are also helping parents secure places in other schools. Chan, a pediatrician, created The Primary School to tackle the effects of poverty by combining education with healthcare and family support. Many students came from multilingual households, while staff worked closely with community clinics to identify children with learning disabilities and behavioral challenges. But the school also struggled with leadership changes and finding donors beyond CZI.

The shutdown reflects a broader shift inside the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In 2024, the organization began scaling back social advocacy and education funding to focus on science, biomedical research, and artificial intelligence. The change comes as Meta ramps up its AI ambitions, with Zuckerberg committing more than $130 billion to AI investments and the couple directing much of their philanthropic fortune toward AI and medical research.