NEW YORK, Sept. 3 — New York City’s public schools will become the strictest in the nation when it comes to artificial intelligence this fall, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani announcing a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI tools for all elementary and middle school students. The ban, which the mayor’s office described as the most expansive prohibition in the country, applies to any software using generative AI for students through eighth grade. Companion chatbots will be barred across all grades.
The policy, announced Wednesday, is part of a broader assessment of how the nation’s largest school district handles the technology. “Each day when our children come to school we teach them to ask questions, to challenge assumptions, to interrogate the premise, to ask why,” Mamdani, a Democrat, said at a news conference.
“When it comes to AI in our schools, we hold an obligation to do the same. Just because technology is everywhere, it doesn’t mean that it belongs everywhere.” The mayor was blunt about the industry’s pitch to schools. “The tech industry wants us to believe that AI in early education is not only inevitable but that it is necessary,” he said.
“We do not see it that way. I’ve yet to see a study showing that AI is beneficial for students in elementary or middle school.” While younger students lose access, the city is moving high schoolers in the opposite direction.
Twice-yearly AI literacy classes will be established for all public high school students, and some will take part in pilots introducing them to a handful of AI platforms under educator supervision. Teachers keep some leeway with the technology — they may use AI for instructional planning and operational tasks, but not for grading or assessment. The city will also recommend screen time caps: a suggested limit of 30 minutes per day for students in grades three through five, and 45 minutes for grades six through eight.
City education officials will perform a wide review of all technology tools used in the system, eliminating any deemed not essential to learning. The announcement lands as students, parents and schools across the country wrestle with AI in classrooms, balancing instruction against over-reliance and cheating. At least 37 states have issued official AI guidance for schools, though no single definition of AI literacy exists.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, praised the screen time limits but said the city’s AI policy “leaves many questions unanswered.” He pressed for details on how the education department “will be more aggressive in demanding the products it purchases have AI safeguards.” “If we are going to be serious, let’s start at the source,” Mulgrew said, “rather than expect school communities or individual educators to figure out after the fact if what their school uses fits the new policy.” Josh Golin, executive director of the children’s advocacy group Fairplay, said he would have preferred a longer moratorium and more time between the announcement and the start of the school year.
“A year to evaluate is not nearly enough time,” Golin said, arguing the burden should sit with AI platforms “to demonstrate that their products are effective at teaching kids, that they’re safe, that they’re not displacing face-to-face interaction and that they’re not leading to rampant cheating.” New York City public school students are scheduled to return to the classroom next week.
The review of AI tools and the high school pilots will unfold over the course of the year, with the moratorium in place through the end of the school term.
