Zohran Mamdani Bans AI Use in Schools Through Eighth Grade

New York (GNP): New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have announced a one-year moratorium on students using artificial intelligence in public elementary and middle schools, marking one of the most restrictive steps taken so far by any major US school district on classroom AI use.

The policy, introduced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will halt the current use of roughly 40 educational AI tools across New York City classrooms and affect approximately 600,000 public school students through eighth grade. High school students will still be permitted to use AI in certain cases, while teachers will retain the ability to use AI for tasks such as lesson planning and scheduling.

Speaking at a press conference, Mamdani said children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow, adding that students must develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators, and work through difficult problems on their own. His remarks framed the moratorium as a response to concerns that reliance on AI tools could interfere with foundational learning and social development at an early age.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said children need their teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow, as he announced a one-year ban on generative AI for students in preschool through eighth grade starting this school year pic.twitter.com/wFeyxj7Kzh

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The decision positions New York’s public school system, the nation’s largest, as the most restrictive among major US districts on this issue to date, though it is not acting in isolation. Other districts, including Los Angeles, have said they are reviewing their own AI policies, suggesting the moratorium could influence how other major school systems approach classroom AI use going forward.

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This is not the first time New York City schools have restricted AI access. The district previously imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT shortly after its rollout in 2022, a restriction that was later lifted and replaced with a custom AI-powered teaching assistant developed in partnership with Microsoft, a part-owner of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The current moratorium marks a return to a more restrictive posture after that earlier shift toward integrating AI tools into classroom instruction.

Major AI developers including Google, Anthropic and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new policy.