New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has introduced a new policy that will ban the use of artificial intelligence in classrooms for younger schoolchildren. The one-year moratorium, effective in the 2026-2027 school year, will impact about 600,000 public school students in 2-K through eighth grade.
The new rules, introduced by NYC’s Department of Education, will bar teachers from using AI tools to grade assignments and keep students from using the technology in the classroom until they enter high school. Chatbots designed specifically for companionship and mental support will also be banned in all grades.
High school-aged students will only be permitted to use AI in specific instances, and they’ll be offered AI literacy classes twice a year to help students “think critically” before they come to “rely on it.” Mayor Mamdani emphasized the importance of human connection in learning, stating that “children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow.”
The department is also issuing recommended screen time limitations, which include a maximum of 45 minutes per day for middle schoolers. Teachers will still be permitted to use AI for lesson planning, and exceptions may be granted for AI tools that help students with disabilities or multilingual students.
A “limited AI pilot” program will be offered at up to five classes in a “small number” of high school classrooms, using tools that were vetted to meet safety and data privacy standards. These changes follow NYC’s public school system introducing a bell-to-bell ban on personal internet-enabled electronic devices for the 2025-2026 school year.
NYC district leaders say the new AI moratorium for classrooms is one of the most restrictive policies in the US, though some countries like Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have implemented nationwide changes to address similar concerns about the impact of technology on developing minds.
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