New York City Pulls Generative AI From Classrooms Through Eighth Grade for a Year
New York City's public schools will bar students in the district's youngest grades through eighth grade from using generative AI for one year, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels announced Sept. 2. The Mayor's Office said the moratorium takes effect in the 2026-27 school year and will affect nearly 600,000 students, two-thirds of the system's total enrollment.
The policy covers grades 2-K through 8 and applies to "all software that uses student-facing generative AI," according to the release. Companion chatbots are prohibited across all grades, including high school.
Five limited pilots will run in high schools, reaching a maximum of 50,000 students in general education classes, or about 5% of the student body, the release said. Use is capped at five classes per high school and must be directly supervised by a trained educator. The named tools are Quill for English language arts, capped at 15 minutes per week; Edia for math, capped at 20 minutes; Brisk Teaching, 10 to 20 minutes once or twice a week; Playlab, limited to two assignments per marking period; and Intel AI-Ready Schools, one period per week.
All high school students will have access to twice-yearly AI literacy classes built around two 45-minute modules covering what AI is, bias, risks, ethics and career effects, the release said.
Screen time is also capped: restricted one-to-one screen time in second grade and below, with recommended limits of 30 minutes a day in grades 3 through 5 and 45 minutes in grades 6 through 8, according to the Mayor's Office.
Exceptions are granted for assistive technology used by students with disabilities, for multilingual learners and for students in career-readiness programs such as computer science. Teachers may continue to use AI for instructional planning and operational tasks if the tools meet NYC Public Schools safety standards.
A Technology in Schools Coalition of students, educators, parents, officials and union partners will meet through the year to assess the moratorium and the pilots, and publish recommendations. Mamdani said the city is "spending the next year studying the impacts of this technology."
