New York City Public Schools banning AI use through middle school starting this year
Students in the nation's largest school district return to classrooms next week.
New York City Public Schools is banning more than half a million students from using artificial intelligence for the 2026-2027 academic year, the school district confirmed to ABC News.
The nation's largest school district said it will begin the school year next week with a sweeping ban on AI for students in in 2-K through eighth grade.
In a statement to ABC News, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that the city is implementing a moratorium on generative AI for students in pre-school or 2-K through eighth grade and will spend the next year "studying the impacts of this technology."
Mamdani wrote in part, “the tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary.”
“We do not see it that way,” he added.
The news comes as some education advocates have pushed for guardrails and formal guidance on AI use.
The district said it is implementing the most expansive AI moratorium in the nation, eliminating software that uses student-facing AI and banning companion chatbots.
The city's AI moratorium does not apply to high school students. The district said it will offer twice-yearly AI literacy classes designed to help high school students “think critically” about the technology before they start to “rely” on it.
The city's public school system had also implemented a bell-to-bell cell phone last year limiting students' use of devices during the instructional day.
With the new AI change, city and district leaders are urging students and teachers to develop connections, build relationships and spark creativity without relying on generative AI.
New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the measure will help restore the critical thinking skills students need to graduate.
“We’re standing firmly in our decision to not conflate innovation with more tech, and we’re going to lead over the next year with evidence and make sure technology serves learning -- not the other way around,” Samuels wrote in a statement.
Meanwhile, the White House is pushing teachers to use AI responsibly in the classroom, as administration officials believe it can “revolutionize” education.
Teachers told ABC News they are using AI to develop lesson plans, organize data and give students feedback on assignments.
"I use AI for nearly everything in the classroom right now," Texas teacher Lori Garrett said in a text message during the last school year.
Garrett said she also has her students use AI in class to “help themselves learn.”
At the same time, as tech companies issue urgent new warnings about the dangers of AI, the Department of Health and Human Services convened childhood experts Tuesday to discuss the harms of excessive adolescent screen use.
Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos, the director of health communications at the Office of the Surgeon General, stressed that all technology must be safe for children moving forward.
She touted guardrails for students' use of social media and AI.
“There's certain aspects of technology that are educational, and then there are certain ones that actually can be harmful,” Haridopolos told ABC News.
“We need to delineate between the two,” she said.
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