NYC bans AI use for elementary and middle school students under new tech rules

The New York City Department of Education plans to roll out technology rules that ban artificial-intelligence usage for about 600,000 elementary and middle school students, representing roughly two-thirds of the city’s public school population. Individual screens will be prohibited until third grade, and educators will be forbidden from using AI to grade work. AI will become permissible in high school only in specific, limited cases.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed the policy, arguing that early-grade AI is not essential. Council Committee on Education chair Eric Dinowitz urged careful evaluation of AI tools and warned against tech-company marketing. Parents such as Kelly Clancy, who leads Parents for A.I.

Caution and sits on the Coalition for an A.I. Moratorium, said the department should have adopted the two-year moratorium they advocated.