New York City to ban AI in public elementary, middle schools

Schoolchildren in New York City public elementary and middle schools won't be allowed to use artificial intelligence, and no individual screens will be allowed until third-grade. Teachers will also be prohibited from using AI to grade assignments. 

Under the rules, about 600,000 students in the city's schools, roughly two-thirds of all students in the city's public education system, won't be allowed to use AI until they enter high school, where it will be allowed only in specific cases. The New York City Department of Education is expected to announce the technology rules on Wednesday, the New York Times reported. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised the rules. 

“The tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We do not see it that way," Mamdani said in a statement. 

Some parents and groups who wanted a two-year moratorium on AI in schools said the guidelines were disappointing.

Eric Dinowitz, the chair of the Council’s Committee on Education, urged education department leaders to evaluate AI tools to make sure they improve student learning, and he asked them not to be swayed by the marketing claims of tech companies. 

Kelly Clancy, a Brooklyn parent who founded Parents for A.I. Caution and is a member of the Coalition for an A.I. Moratorium, said the department should have enacted the temporary moratorium that parents like her wanted.