New York City Places a One-Year Limit on Younger Students' Use of AI Tools

New York City's schools will bar elementary and middle school students from using generative AI tools for the upcoming school year, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced. The one-year moratorium will affect more than 600,000 students and is meant to give city education officials time for studying the impacts of the technology.

The policies apply to all software that uses student-facing generative AI. Students are barred from individual screened devices until the third grade, and children from age 2 through high school are prohibited from using companion chatbots, which simulate emotional connections and friendship. Teachers may use AI for lesson planning and administrative tasks, but not for grading. Centrally approved instructional programs will reportedly remain permitted, and high schools are largely excluded.

The move enters a wider debate. Some parent-led groups warn that AI tools can make cheating easier and encourage over-reliance at the expense of creative thinking. Others argue that students should learn to use the technology responsibly sooner rather than later. Critics on both sides say the policy either denies useful tools or does not go far enough.

Bree Dusseault of the Center on Reinventing Public Education described a temporary and limited pause as a clear but flexible approach for a fast-evolving moment, noting its success depends on what officials find over the coming year. Dr. Nicole Barnes of the American Psychological Association said effective tools should have proven records of helping students retain and apply knowledge and should preserve human interaction with teachers and peers. She warned that features holding a child's attention are often mistaken for genuine learning, and urged that children be taught early that AI can be wrong and that critical thinking is best performed by humans.

Barnes also encouraged teaching parents and family members about AI so they can understand its benefits and limits and monitor how children use such tools. New York is often a bellwether for other districts, and nearly 40 percent of U.S. schools already ban AI tools in classrooms, according to October 2025 research from College Board.

The original reporting is by CNBC, available at cnbc.com.