Generative AI has been suspended by New York City’s schools.
The city’s Department of Education imposed a one-year moratorium on the use of AI by students in elementary and middle school classrooms, officials said on Wednesday.
High school students, meanwhile, will take two “AI literacy courses” each year and will have access to AI programs in specific educational contexts, said the city’s schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels.
“The tech industry wants us to believe that AI in early education is not only inevitable, but that it is necessary,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference in Brooklyn. “We do not see it that way.”
Under the new guidelines, generative AI programs will be either blocked or deleted from school software. Ailish Brady, an education advisor in the mayor’s office, said the city would disable AI features in 38 previously approved educational programs or stop using products whose AI features can’t be turned off.
The policy also sets daily limits on personal device screen time for children — 30 minutes for kids in third through fifth grade, and 45 minutes for middle school students, Samuels said.
The AI ban will impact about 600,000 students, about two-thirds of the school system’s student population, which is the largest in the country.
Mamdani said school officials will evaluate the policy’s effectiveness and results after the 2026-2027 school year. He drew a distinction between younger students and high schoolers, who he said need to be prepared for a world increasingly shaped by AI.
“Whether we like it or not, our teenagers are growing up in an AI-saturated world. We cannot pretend that that world does not exist,” he said. “It would be irresponsible not to prepare our children for the fast-evolving technological future that lies ahead.”
The high school AI literacy courses are meant to help students “think critically about AI before they begin to rely on it,” according to a press release announcing the policy.
“The two 45-minute modules will introduce students to what AI is and is not, as well as AI-related bias, risks, ethical considerations and impacts on careers and future skills.”
AI modules permitted for high school use do not include chatbots, officials said. The modules are designed for specific subjects, and each has strict time limits.
Quill, for example, is a program designed for use in English classes to support text analysis. Students can use the program for only 15 minutes each week, according to the policy.
New York City’s AI pause for schools comes amid a public reckoning over how best to expose children to generative AI, as educators across the country bemoan how students are using the technology to cheat on assignments and parents petition for more restrictions.
The AIM Coalition, a group of parents, teachers, and activists in New York, has called on the city to institute a two-year AI moratorium in public schools.
In a press release issued Wednesday, the group said the new restrictions are a “step in the right direction,” but added that “broad exceptions leave students at risk.”
“Teachers’ use of AI and high school pilots will still leave parents with little ability to keep their child out of such programs,” said Marina Marcou-O’Malley, a director of an educational reform group in New York.
In March, the city’s school system released guidance for the use of AI in classrooms. Those guidelines permitted students to use AI for research, exploration, and creative projects, provided its use was age-appropriate and guided by educators.
Officials said on Wednesday that the new moratorium was informed by feedback from students and teachers. Mamdani said the ban is the most “comprehensive of its kind anywhere in the country.”
Microsoft, which in 2023 announced a partnership with New York City Public Schools “to support their exploration of the development of generative AI tools,” did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
When reached by Business Insider on Wednesday, OpenAI did not comment directly on Mamdani’s moratorium. The company said it works with educators and school districts to discern where guardrails are needed in its educational platforms.
Under the new policy, teachers are allowed to use AI for lesson planning and “operational tasks,” officials said.
“This moratorium is a commitment to getting the future right,” Mamdani said.
