NEW YORK — New York City announced a one-year moratorium on students using artificial intelligence in public elementary and middle schools Wednesday, marking the most restrictive policy of its kind adopted by a major American school district.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, alongside Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, unveiled the policy just days before the city’s roughly 1 million public school students return to classrooms for the 2026-27 school year on Sept. 10. The moratorium will bar the use of generative AI tools among students from the city’s 2-K early childhood program through eighth grade, affecting nearly 600,000 students, or about two-thirds of the district’s total enrollment.
Mamdani said the decision reflected a broader philosophy about how children learn best, emphasizing direct human interaction over reliance on artificial intelligence tools.
“Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow,” Mamdani said at a press conference announcing the policy. “They need to develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators and wrestle with tough problems on their own.”
As part of the rollout, the city said it would disable AI components embedded in nearly 40 educational technology programs currently used in New York City classrooms that do not meet the administration’s new safety and oversight standards. High school students will still be permitted to use AI in certain limited circumstances, and the district plans to introduce AI literacy instruction for older students even as younger children remain barred from using the tools directly.
Teachers, meanwhile, will retain the ability to use AI for administrative purposes such as lesson planning and scheduling, according to a statement from the city.
Mamdani said he had not yet seen research demonstrating clear educational benefits from AI use among elementary and middle school students, aside from studies funded by companies with a financial interest in the technology’s adoption.
The policy also introduces new screen-time restrictions that vary by grade level. Students in second grade and below will face a complete ban on one-on-one screen time during the school day. Students in third through fifth grade will be limited to 30 minutes of screen time daily, while those in sixth through eighth grade will be capped at 45 minutes. The restrictions build on an existing citywide ban on cellphones and other personal devices during the school day for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, a policy introduced last fall that remains in effect.
The AI moratorium carves out specific exceptions for assistive technology used by students with disabilities, English-language learners and students enrolled in career-readiness programs such as computer science courses. Companion chatbots, however, will be prohibited across all grade levels without exception, reflecting particular concern among city officials over AI tools designed to simulate ongoing, personalized conversation with young users.
City officials said the moratorium could be extended beyond the coming school year, pending a comprehensive review of AI’s role in education to be conducted by a coalition of educators, parents, technology experts and elected officials. That review is intended to guide any future decisions about expanding or further restricting AI access in city classrooms.
The move by the nation’s largest public school system comes after months of pressure from parents, teachers and elected officials urging the administration to slow the rollout of AI tools in classrooms. School principals were instructed in July to pause any new AI-related software purchases while the city finalized its policy, a notable shift from earlier guidance issued in March that had not included grade-based restrictions on AI use or broader limits on digital device time.
New York City is not the first major school district to grapple with student access to AI tools. The district previously imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT shortly after OpenAI released the chatbot in 2022, before later lifting that restriction and introducing its own custom AI-powered teaching assistant developed with support from Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI.
Reuters reported that other large school districts, including Los Angeles, are currently reviewing their own AI policies, suggesting Wednesday’s announcement in New York could influence how other major metropolitan school systems approach the technology in the months ahead. Reuters characterized New York’s new policy as the most restrictive AI-related measure adopted by any school district in the country to date.
Representatives for major AI developers Google, Anthropic and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the announcement, according to Reuters.
The debate over AI’s role in K-12 education has intensified nationally as generative AI tools have become increasingly embedded in everyday classroom technology, from writing assistance programs to personalized tutoring software. Proponents of broader AI adoption in schools have argued the technology can help personalize instruction and support struggling students, while critics, including many of the parents and educators who pushed New York City toward Wednesday’s policy, have raised concerns about diminished critical thinking skills, reduced peer interaction and the potential for AI tools to substitute for genuine human mentorship during formative developmental years.
Mamdani framed the moratorium not as a rejection of new technology outright, but as a deliberate pause intended to ensure any future adoption of AI tools in classrooms is grounded in evidence of genuine educational benefit rather than industry-driven momentum.
“This moratorium is a commitment to getting the future right,” Mamdani said. “We will embrace new technology, but only when it serves our students.”
The policy announcement arrives amid a broader national conversation about the appropriate boundaries for children’s engagement with AI systems, spanning not just classroom instructional tools but also companion chatbots and other AI products marketed directly to young users. New York City’s decision to prohibit companion chatbots across all grade levels, regardless of the exceptions carved out for assistive and career-readiness technology, reflects a particular note of caution among city officials toward AI products designed to foster ongoing, humanlike interaction with children.
With the new school year set to begin Sept. 10, city education officials are expected to spend the coming weeks communicating the specifics of the moratorium and revised screen-time rules to schools, teachers and families across the district, as New York City positions itself at the forefront of a rapidly evolving national debate over how, and whether, young students should be permitted to engage with artificial intelligence in the classroom.
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