New York City Prohibits AI Use for Students Until High School Level
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled a new policy aimed at restricting the use of AI in classrooms for younger students. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, this one-year moratorium will affect around 600,000 public school students from pre-K through eighth grade. The initiative comes alongside stricter regulations on digital devices and a small pilot program for AI educational tools.
Under the new guidelines from the NYC Department of Education, teachers will be prohibited from using AI tools for grading assignments, and students will not be allowed to use AI technology in the classroom until they reach high school. Additionally, chatbots intended for companionship and mental support will be banned across all grades. High school students will have limited access to AI, permitted only in specific situations, and will participate in AI literacy classes twice a year to encourage critical thinking before they become overly reliant on technology.
“Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow. They need to develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators, and wrestle with tough problems on their own,” Mamdani stated. “The tech industry wants us to believe that AI-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We do not see it that way.”
The policy also includes a ban on individual screens until third grade, along with recommended screen time limits, which suggest a maximum of 45 minutes per day for middle school students. While teachers can still use AI for lesson planning, exceptions may be made for tools that assist students with disabilities or those who are multilingual, as well as for specific programs like computer science.
A “limited AI pilot” program will be available in a select number of high school classrooms, utilizing tools that have been vetted for safety and data privacy, ensuring that students remain the primary thinkers. The tools included in this pilot have set usage time limits and feature resources like Quill for English language support, Edia for math, Brisk Teaching for study guidance, and Playlab and Intel AI-Ready Schools for multi-subject assistance.
These developments follow NYC’s public school system implementing a ban on “personal internet-enabled electronic devices” (including smartphones) for the 2025-2026 school year. NYC district leaders assert that this new AI moratorium is among the most stringent policies in the US, although countries like Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have already made nationwide adjustments to address similar concerns regarding technology’s impact on young minds.
