New York: New York City public schools will stop students from using generative AI tools from 2-K through eighth grade for one school year, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Wednesday.
The moratorium, starting in the 2026-27 academic year, affects nearly 600,000 students — about two-thirds of the country’s largest school system — and comes with new screen-time rules.
“Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow,” Mamdani said in a press release. “They need to develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators and wrestle with tough problems on their own.”
The mayor rejected the idea that AI must be part of early education. “The tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We do not see it that way,” he said.
What The Ban Covers
The policy bars all student-facing generative AI — including AI tutors and chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude — for preschool through eighth grade. “Companion chatbots” are banned for all grades, as reported by India Today.
More than 38 previously allowed programmes with student-facing AI features will be turned off or removed for not meeting new safety and oversight standards, the mayor’s office said.
Seniors Get Limited AI Access
High schoolers will get limited, supervised access to AI. Up to 50,000 students in general education classes — about 5 per cent of public-school students — will join five small AI pilots.
Each high school can run the pilots in up to five classes, led by trained teachers using approved tools that meet safety and privacy rules.
All high school students will also take two 45-minute AI literacy or critical-thinking sessions each year. The lessons will explain what AI can and cannot do, and cover bias, risks, ethics, careers and future skills.
Teachers may still use AI for planning lessons and administrative work if the tools meet city safety standards, but not for grading or assessments.
Students with disabilities, English learners, and those in career-readiness programmes such as computer science can still use AI as assistive technology.
Screen-Time Limits
The city is also cutting back on screen time. Students in second grade and below will have restricted one-to-one screen time — meaning personal devices like laptops — with exceptions for assistive tech, coding tasks and e-books.
Recommended daily limits are 30 minutes for third to fifth grade and 45 minutes for sixth to eighth grade.
Review panel And Background
A new Technology in Schools Coalition — made up of students, teachers, parents, officials, advocates, unions and experts — will review the moratorium and pilots during the 2026-27 school year before making recommendations for the future.
New York City had banned ChatGPT on school devices in 2023, then reversed the decision months later. Some parents and teachers had called the earlier rules too loose.
Studies show AI can help students finish homework faster but may hurt learning. Research from Stockholm University and the University of Hong Kong found that after about six months of AI use, homework scores rose 18 per cent while closed-book exam scores dropped 20 per cent.
Another study by Inserm and the National University of Singapore found that children who get smartphones early may have weaker memory and lower academic performance.
