New York City public school students under 9th Grade will be banned from using generative AI for at least one year, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Wednesday.

Mamdani announced the new rule during a news conference Wednesday morning, saying it is part of a “comprehensive AI policy” for the city’s schools. The ban is only a “one-year moratorium” on AI use for students under 9th Grade, and is not a lasting ban for elementary and middle school students.

“AI has grown from something on the pages of a sci-fi novel into something present in nearly every aspect of our lives,” Mamdani said. “But just because technology is everywhere doesn’t mean that it belongs everywhere.”

“When it comes to AI in our schools, we hold an obligation to do the same,” he continued. “The tech industry wants us to believe that AI in early education is not only inevitable, but that it is necessary. We do not see it that way. I have yet to see a study showing that AI is beneficial for students in elementary and middle school.”

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Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, speaks to members of the media on July 7, 2026. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Mamdani went on to thank New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for her efforts toward banning cell phones and social media platforms in schools. He argued these policies are aimed at protecting students from the harmful effects of technology until they are equipped to deal with them.

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“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,” Mamdani said, saying high school students will learn about AI and “its opportunities and its pitfalls.”

He said students will participate in five separate AI programs, but cautioned that AI will never replace the reliance on student-teacher interaction.

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New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s AI data center pause is drawing criticism from lawmakers and industry leaders. (James Carbone/Newsday RM / Getty Images)

The announcement comes the same week Mamdani picked a fight with a teachers union over a proposed pay increase for city teachers. Mamdani’s office sued to block the pay raise after City Hall approved it last month, arguing the bill violates state law by preventing public employees from negotiating compensation.

United Federation of Teachers, which endorsed Mamdani in the mayoral election, intervened in the case last week.

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“We knew this lawsuit was a possibility, and we were prepared,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The RESPECT check law, which was unanimously passed by City Council on July 16, was carefully drafted to make sure that it did not violate the state’s Taylor Law, which governs collective bargaining.”

A stock image of a protester holding an anti-AI sign (iStock / iStock)

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He added: “The City Council would not have introduced — let alone passed — this bill if it were illegal, and we would not have supported a bill that threatened our collective bargaining rights. This moment is an opportunity for Mayor Mamdani to create a new, fairer system and build the kind of city he said he wanted to lead. This administration must keep its promises, and we won’t stop until it does.”