New York City bans AI use in public schools through eighth grade

New York City will ban students’ use of artificial intelligence in public schools through eighth grade, typically age 13 or 14. The prohibition is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday and will go into effect next week.

The change is part of a sweeping overhaul of the use of technology in the US’s largest school district, which enrolls roughly 900,000 students a year. In another policy shift, classrooms will keep students off laptops or tablets through the third grade, age nine or 10. The city’s public school technology policies are closely watched by the rest of the United States.

Teachers and parents have warned against the use of AI instructional software in schools over concerns about harming children’s mental health and cognitive development, in particular an abdication of reasoning to software, a phenomenon researchers have dubbed “cognitive surrender”, as well as environmental damage.

AI use will only be allowed in high school, which begins in the ninth grade in the US school system. Even then, it will be limited to specific uses, such as learning about the technology itself.

AI “companion chatbots” offering psychological support will also be banned. The rules allow teachers to use AI for tasks including preparing lessons or writing messages, but they are forbidden from asking AI to grade assignments.

The city’s education department recommends limiting screen time to 45 minutes in class for middle schoolers – sixth through eighth grade – and 30 minutes for elementary school students. But the question remains of how to monitor AI use, since it often takes place outside the school environment.

The new rules follow an initial framework published in March, which used a traffic light system to determine which tasks AI would be used for. In 2023, the school system forbade students’ use of ChatGPT, though the ban was reversed less than a year later.

The 2026 framework, which allowed students to use AI for research, exploration and creative projects, sparked fury among many parents and teachers who considered it too lenient.

In response, the city’s schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, said that leaders had “missed the mark” in their communications, adding his office would carefully review parents’ feedback for incorporation into future rules.

The city had long planned to follow the March framework with a more comprehensive “guidebook” to take feedback into account, the education department has said.

The department will set up a taskforce made up of teachers, elected officials, experts and union representatives. The taskforce is to produce a report in April, intended to serve as the basis for New York’s AI-in-schools policy.