Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative artificial intelligence in New York City Public Schools, the largest school district in the United States.
The rule takes effect when classes begin on September 10 and applies to grades 2-K through 8, covering nearly 600,000 students, or about two-thirds of total enrollment. Under the policy, schools will disable AI functions on 38 educational technology products used in the district. Five tools will remain active in grades 9 through 12 for career and technical education programs. Companion chatbots, which simulate emotional or social interaction, are banned across all grade levels, including high school. Teachers may continue using AI to plan lessons but cannot use it to grade student work.
High school students are not fully exempt. They will take AI critical-thinking modules twice a year, each lasting 45 minutes, and a small number of classrooms will pilot the limited use of AI. Students with disabilities and English-language learners qualify for exceptions.
The policy also sets screen-time limits by grade. Devices are barred for the youngest students until third grade. Older elementary and middle school students face daily caps recommended by the district.
Mamdani announced the policy at Brooklyn Steam Center School alongside school administrators and state legislators. “Just because technology is everywhere doesn’t mean it belongs everywhere,” he said, adding that children need to understand what it feels like not to know an answer, since working through that difficulty is central to learning. He said he has not seen a study showing generative AI benefits elementary or middle school students, and criticized ed-tech companies for prioritizing profit over classroom outcomes.
Chancellor Samuels said the district’s goal is to keep schools centered on human relationships between students and teachers, arguing that no technology can replace the judgment, expertise, and care educators provide.
A new Technology in Schools Coalition, made up of students, teachers, parents, elected officials, advocates, and outside experts, will monitor the policy through the school year and issue recommendations in April 2027. District leaders will then decide whether to extend, revise, or end the moratorium for the 2027-28 school year.
Some parent groups that had pushed for a two-year moratorium called the final policy insufficient.
New York’s approach breaks from the direction most large U.S. districts have taken over the past two years, as many have signed agreements with AI vendors and added AI literacy programs while keeping student access largely open. The district’s decision establishes a benchmark for other systems to watch as a full-scale restriction plays out over a school year.
Response on X was divided within hours of the announcement. Supporters argued the policy protects students from what they described as cognitive offloading, comparing early AI restrictions to past limits on calculator use in classrooms. Others welcomed the emphasis on human connection over digital tools.
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Critics called the policy shortsighted, with one widely shared post asking whether banning books would come next, prompting pointed replies calling the comparison inaccurate. Some users argued the rule was symbolic, since students can access AI tools on personal phones outside school.
Others raised a narrower concern: without early exposure, students may reach high school without basic skills such as spreadsheet formulas or coding fundamentals that AI tools can obscure rather than teach.
