New York City bars AI from elementary and middle school classrooms

New York City will bar students from kindergarten through eighth grade from using artificial intelligence in classrooms starting in the 2026-2027 school year, under a policy announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The one-year moratorium covers about 600,000 public school students, and city education officials describe it as one of the most restrictive AI rules adopted by any school system in the country.

Under the new rules from the city’s Department of Education, teachers will be barred from using AI to grade student assignments, and younger students won’t be allowed to use AI tools in class at all until they reach high school. Companion chatbots, AI programs built to act as a companion or offer emotional support, will be banned across every grade level, including high school.

High school students will get narrower access than an outright ban. They will be allowed to use AI only in specific, approved instances, and schools will offer AI literacy classes twice a year meant to teach students to think critically about the tools before they come to rely on them. The department says it may grant exceptions for students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and specific programs such as computer science classes.

Alongside the restrictions, the department is launching a small pilot program in up to five high school classrooms to test AI tools that have been vetted for safety and data privacy. The tools include Quill for English language support, Edia for math, Brisk Teaching for guiding study practice, and Playlab and Intel AI-Ready Schools for use across multiple subjects, each with set time limits meant to keep students doing the primary thinking.

Part of a wider crackdown on screens

The AI moratorium builds on an earlier push to limit technology in city classrooms. Individual screens will be banned for students until third grade, and the department is recommending screen time limits, including a maximum of 45 minutes a day for middle schoolers. The changes follow a bell-to-bell ban on personal internet-enabled devices, including smartphones, that took effect for the 2025-2026 school year. “Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow,” Mamdani said in a statement, adding that students need to “develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators, and wrestle with tough problems on their own.”

The moratorium is set to run for one school year, through the end of the 2026-2027 term, when city officials would decide whether to extend it, ease it, or expand the pilot program beyond its initial five classrooms. NYC district leaders have called the policy one of the most restrictive in the country, while noting that Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have already made nationwide changes addressing similar concerns about technology in schools.