Mamdani expels AI from the classroom for 600,000 students

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and school officials announced on Wednesday a one-year ban on generative AI in elementary and middle school classrooms in New York City.

Michael M.

Santiago/Getty Images NYC imposed a one-year AI moratorium for elementary and middle schools.

High schoolers will take AI literacy courses and get limited access to approved AI tools.

NYC will disable AI features in 38 previously approved educational programs.

Generative AI has been suspended by New York City's schools.

The city's Department of Education imposed a one-year moratorium on the use of AI in elementary and middle school classrooms, officials said on Wednesday.

High school students, meanwhile, will take a required "AI literacy course" and will have access to AI programs in specific educational contexts, said the city's schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels.

"The tech industry wants us to believe that AI in early education is not only inevitable, but that it is necessary," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference in Brooklyn.

"We do not see it that way." Under the new guidelines, generative AI programs will be either blocked or deleted from school software.

Ailish Brady, an education advisor in the mayor's office, said the city would also disable AI features in 38 previously approved educational programs or stop using products whose AI features can't be turned off.

The policy also sets daily limits on personal device screen time for children — 30 minutes for kids in third through fifth grade, and 45 minutes for middle school students, Samuels said.

The AI ban will impact about 600,000 students, about two-thirds of the school system's student population, which is the largest in the country.

Mamdani said school officials will evaluate the policy's effectiveness and results after the 2026-2027 school year.