New York City Imposes One-Year Ban on AI Tools in Elementary and Middle Schools
NYC public schools will ban student-facing generative AI for grades K-8 for one year, with new high school pilots and literacy classes.
New York City's public school system, the largest in the United States, will enforce a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative artificial intelligence tools for all students through the eighth grade. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the policy on Wednesday, describing it as the most expansive prohibition of its kind in the country.
The ban applies to all software using generative AI that is directed at students in elementary and middle schools. Companion chatbots will be prohibited across all grade levels. The move is part of a broader review of how the district's students interact with the technology.
While younger students face a ban, the city is simultaneously introducing twice-yearly AI literacy classes for all public high school students. Selected high schoolers will also participate in supervised pilots using a limited set of AI platforms, with an educator present.
Mamdani, a Democrat, framed the decision as an extension of the school system's educational mission. "Each day when our children come to school we teach them to ask questions, to challenge assumptions, to interrogate the premise, to ask why," he said at a news conference. "When it comes to AI in our schools, we hold an obligation to do the same."
The city has also issued recommended screen time limits: 30 minutes per day for students in grades three through five, and 45 minutes for those in grades six through eight. Teachers remain permitted to use AI for instructional planning and operational tasks.
Education officials will conduct a comprehensive review of all technology tools used in the district and will remove any deemed non-essential to learning. The policy arrives as schools nationwide grapple with how to teach AI literacy while preventing over-reliance and cheating. At least 37 states have issued official AI guidance, though no single standard defines what AI literacy entails.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, welcomed the screen time limits but noted the policy "leaves many questions unanswered." He called for stronger safeguards from technology vendors, saying, "If we are going to be serious, let's start at the source, rather than expect school communities or individual educators to figure out after the fact if what their school uses fits the new policy."
Public school students are scheduled to return to classrooms next week.