NYC officials ban AI in the classroom until high school

Artificial intelligence will be banned in New York City public schools until students reach high school.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels made the announcement Wednesday, establishing a one-year moratorium on generative AI for children in 2-K through eighth grade. 

Nearly 600,000 students, or two-thirds of the system's total enrollment, will be affected. This includes all software that uses student-facing generative AI, including companion chatbots, according to education officials. 

"Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow. They need to develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators and wrestle with tough problems on their own," Mamdani said. "The tech industry wants us to believe that AI-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We do not see it that way."  

There will also be twice-yearly AI critical thinking modules implemented for high schoolers and limited AI pilots for a small number of high school classrooms. There will be limits on how much time all students will be able to spend on screens, depending on the grade level.

Educators will also face restrictions, as teachers will not be able to use AI to grade assignments. Teachers can still use it for instructional planning and operational tasks, officials said. 

The United Federation of Teachers released a statement in favor of the screen time limitation, but added the policy "leaves many questions unanswered." 

Over the next school year, a coalition of students, parents, educators, elected officials and others will meet to assess the impact of the moratorium. 

The plan comes as a reversal from what City Hall and education officials were saying about AI less than six months ago. 

Many parents voiced their concerns about the use of AI in schools in May, when the Department of Education was finalizing its plan to develop a formal AI policy. 

Some parents feared the damage was already done, while others were concerned about the tools that many of them don't yet understand. 

Wednesday's announcement comes just days before the Sept. 10 start of the new school year in the city.