New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has banned approximately 600,000 public school students from using AI in the classroom, from 2-K through eighth grade, under a one-year moratorium that will take effect in the 2026-2027 school year. The New York Department of Education’s rules also prevent teachers from using AI tools to grade assignments. High school students will only be allowed to use AI in specific circumstances; they will also take AI literacy classes twice a year to help them think critically before becoming dependent on the technology. Chatbots designed for friendship and emotional support will also be banned at all grade levels.
Individual screen use will be banned through third grade, while a maximum of 45 minutes of daily screen time has been recommended for middle school students. Teachers will be allowed to use AI for lesson planning; exceptions may apply to tools that support students with disabilities or multilingual students, as well as computer science programs.
A limited pilot program covering a small number of high school courses will be launched in no more than five classes. The tools being reviewed for safety and data privacy include Quill for English support, Edia for mathematics, Brisk Teaching for study practice, Playlab for support across multiple subjects, and Intel AI-Ready Schools. The regulation follows the ban on personal internet-connected devices during the 2025-2026 school year.
Why it matters
This approach shows that New York’s school policy treats AI not so much as a tool open to general use, but as a technology whose boundaries and safety must be established first. The fact that it also covers teachers’ assessment processes takes the regulation beyond being merely a measure concerning students’ homework and extends it to educational practice as a whole. By contrast, the room left for lesson planning, students with disabilities and multilingual students, computer science, and the limited high school pilot indicates that a controlled-use model, rather than an absolute ban, is being established. The limits on screen time and restrictions on chatbots, together with the previous ban on personal devices, show that technology use is being addressed within a broader framework. The key question that remains is which tools will be deemed suitable in terms of safety and data privacy after the moratorium and pilot.