New York City has announced a one-year moratorium on artificial intelligence use in public-school classrooms through grade 8, affecting 600,000 elementary and middle school students. The policy was announced on Wednesday and will end the use of 40 educational tools.
The ban does not prevent teachers from using AI to create lesson plans. It also includes staggered screen-time limits of less than 45 minutes a day through eighth grade and bans “companion chatbots” through high school.
A limited high-school pilot will continue
New York City Public Schools will launch a pilot programme for a limited number of high-school students. Edia, a maths platform, will provide step-by-step coaching and ask students to explain their reasoning, with use capped at 20 minutes a week.
Quill will be tested in English language arts courses and limited to 15 minutes a week. The city’s policy does not extend the classroom moratorium in the same way to these pilot activities.
What we know now
- The policy includes exceptions for students with disabilities and multilingual learners.
- Generative AI may be used in career-readiness programmes, including computer science, when it is needed.
- Students will receive access to two yearly AI-literacy courses covering the technology, bias and ethical issues.
- The city will study the policy’s impact during the moratorium.
Why the policy is drawing attention
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said children need teachers, human connection and opportunities to work through difficult problems independently. He said the city would use the next year to study the policy’s effect on students.
The decision comes after reading proficiency scores among students in grades 3 through 8 fell by 6 percent in 2025. Experts said the size of New York City’s public-school system could make its approach influential for other US school districts, although the policy’s effectiveness may be difficult to assess because its enforcement mechanism has not been shared.
Research points to risks and limited uses
A review of 400 studies by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education, together with interviews with teachers, parents and other educators, concluded that the drawbacks of generative AI in classrooms outweigh the benefits. It also said careful, limited use in specific situations could improve learning outcomes.
The review described digitally induced “amnesia”, in which students struggled to recall basic facts about topics they had studied or submitted work on. A January 2025 report in the peer-reviewed journal Societies found that people aged 17 to 25 who relied more heavily on AI had lower levels of critical-thinking ability.
What happens next
During the one-year moratorium, the city will study the policy’s impact, while the public-school system runs its limited high-school pilot and provides two yearly AI-literacy courses.
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