Nyc School System To Ban Ai For Elementary, Middle School Students

NEW YORK — The nation’s largest school system is set to ban student-facing artificial intelligence for students in 2K through eighth grade, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.

Under the policy, which the Department of Education is planning to announce Wednesday, kids in early childhood programs as well as elementary and middle school students will not be able to use generative AI, according to the individuals, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the details. The new measure will affect some 600,000 students — or two-thirds of the school system.

The guidelines also largely prohibit the use of individual devices in class for students in prekindergarten through second grade, the individuals said.

The policy recommends no more than 30 minutes of screentime on individual devices for students in third through fifth grade and 45 minutes for middle school students.

The new policy rollout from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration comes as schools and policymakers across the country grapple with how early — and to what extent — children should be exposed to AI, amid growing concerns about its effects on learning, attention and student privacy. The move also reflects a broader backlash, as parents, educators and policymakers increasingly question the role of technology in classrooms.

The city has been among the nation’s most prominent testing grounds for AI in education. The new restrictions represent a shift toward putting firmer limits on students’ direct use of the technology.

For high schoolers, the use of AI in classrooms will be “restricted,” according to The Daily News. Those students will still be able to use AI for literacy, career and certification programs and five pilot programs in some schools.

As it rolls out its AI ban, the city school system is also planning to form a coalition of parents, students, teachers, union representatives and experts to help shape the policy.

New York City Council education chair Eric Dinowitz said it’s “clear” the school system is trying to implement feedback it has received from families, advocates and elected officials. But he said questions remain, including what screentime will look like as well as training for students and faculty on screentime and AI usage.

“The DOE is trying to be responsive to our hearings and community input from parents and advocates, but there are certainly still more questions about the details of this plan,” Dinowitz said in an interview.

The Daily News first reported news of the policy.

There will be exceptions to the restrictions, though, including for assistive technology for students with disabilities and English language learners, as well as for coding assignments and e-books.

The new policy, which comes a little more than a week before the new school year begins, represents a more aggressive stance by the school system following pushback from advocates and elected officials. They argued that the draft guidance on AI in classrooms released in March did not adequately address issues such as risks to student privacy and impacts on cognitive development.

But the policy may still disappoint the AI Moratorium (AIM) for NYC Schools Coalition, a group composed of parents, teachers and advocacy organizations. The coalition has been urging Mamdani and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to issue a two-year moratorium on the use of AI in public schools.

The school system had originally planned to release updated guidance in June. But education officials delayed the release amid pushback from parents and advocates as well as a bipartisan group of Council members.

The draft guidance employed a “traffic light” framework, giving the technology a “green light” for tasks like lesson planning but a “red light” for grading.

Samuels has said the school system “missed the mark” with the draft guidance, and promised a more stringent approach to AI use for the youngest children. He also asked principals to hold off on buying educational software until the DOE finished revising the AI guidance.

The reticence around the use of AI in schools also coincides with a growing nationwide movement seeking to limit screentime for young children — the next front in the push to create distraction-free classrooms and address youth mental health after a wave of school cellphone bans across the country.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has expressed openness to screentime limits, but said she wants to consult teachers and other education experts first. The state’s largest teachers union passed a resolution at the end of May calling for limits on screen time and artificial intelligence.