New York mayor Zohran Mamdani has imposed a city-wide moratorium on student-facing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for the next 12 months, which will affect almost 600,000 children up to the Eighth Grade (Year 9), alongside education on AI usage for high school students.
Described as the most expansive student-facing AI moratorium in the United States, the restrictions will cover all classroom software that incorporates elements of GenAI, and bans the use of companion chatbots at all levels in the New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) system.
For New York’s teachers, AI use will remain permitted for instructional planning and operational tasks as long as the tools they use comply with NYCPS safety standards, while some exceptions to the blanket ban will be implemented for assistive technology use by disabled students, multilingual learners, and students taking part in career readiness programmes such as computer science.
“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,” said Mamdani.
“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. That’s why we’re implementing a moratorium on generative AI for students in 2-K through 8th grade and spending the next year studying the impacts of this technology.”
Jumaane Williams, public advocate for the city of New York, added: “As artificial intelligence rapidly expands into students’ lives, our city government has a responsibility to ensure this technology is serving, and not hurting, their development.
“This ban on student-facing AI for our youngest students, as well as age-appropriate screen time restrictions, are important steps in the right direction. Using this as a foundation but not a final word, we must continue to thoroughly review technologies that are entering the classroom and institute guardrails that promote the safety and well-being of New Yorkers,” he said.
The new policy will also see all technology tools used by NYCPS undergo a thorough review covering aspects such as supplier accountability on safety and transparency standards, ethics, learning design and instructional impact, prior research, and the collection of ongoing user feedback. Non-compliant tools may also be banned.
The Mayor’s office has also established a Technology in Schools Coalition, brining together children and parents, teachers, elected officials and other stakeholders including technical experts to assess the impact of the moratorium, which will produce a report with recommendations for future years after the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year next summer.
Learning to live with AI
Meanwhile, for up to 50,000 high school students (aged 14 to 18), roughly 5% of New York’s student body, limited pilot AI schemes are to be introduced, giving teens access to twice-yearly ‘AI literacy’ sessions designed to teach them to think critically about using AI.
These lessons, which are set to last about 45 minutes, will cover questions such as what AI is and is not, bias, risks, ethical considerations, and impacts on careers and skills. They will take place under strict supervision using NYCPS-vetted tools.
“AI and technology are central to New York’s economic future, as underscored by last week’s CBRE report showing that New York City now has more tech jobs than the Bay Area,” said Tech:NYC president and CEO Julie Samuels.
“We’re encouraged that high schoolers will have access to AI career readiness tools that can help prepare them for the workforce, and we recommend expanding this access beyond one hour per week in the future.
“At the same time, strong guardrails should enable age-appropriate learning that puts safety first, even at younger grades. Preparing youth for adult life and workplaces that rely on technology will require students to understand AI, question it, and use it safely, under the guidance of teachers,” said Samuels.
“These are incredibly complex issues, and we give mayor Mamdani … credit for listening to all sides and creating a task force … to help shape what comes next,” she added.
