NYC Bans Student AI Use Through 8th Grade as LA Schools Follow Suit

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New York City has imposed a one-year moratorium on AI use in schools for students through 8th grade, affecting 600,000 pupils. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the ban alongside screen time limits and restricted AI pilot programs for high schoolers. Los Angeles schools quickly followed with similar restrictions on district devices.

New York City has implemented one of the most restrictive AI policies in education, banning AI use in schools for approximately 600,000 students from 2-K through eighth grade during the 2026-2027 school year

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. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the one-year moratorium on AI alongside additional digital device restrictions and limited pilot programs for high school students

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Source: Decrypt

Source: Decrypt

NYC Schools Implement Comprehensive Ban on AI for Students

The Department of Education's new rules prohibit teachers from using generative AI tools to grade assignments and prevent elementary and middle school students from accessing the technology in classrooms

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. Companion chatbots designed for emotional support will be banned across all grades. The policy halts the current use of about 40 educational AI tools in NYC classrooms

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"Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow. They need to develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators, and wrestle with tough problems on their own," Mamdani stated

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. He emphasized that he has yet to see an unbiased study demonstrating the benefits of AI for elementary and middle school education.

LA Schools Follow With Similar Restrictions on District Devices

Days after NYC's announcement, the Los Angeles Unified School District implemented its own ban on AI for students through 8th grade on district-provided devices

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. Students can see Google's AI summaries in search results but cannot interact further with AI tools. Some board members were reportedly surprised by the decision announced at Wednesday's committee meeting. The ban is temporary, with the committee set to make recommendations on AI policy in education at the end of the school year

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High School Students Get Limited Access Through Vetted Pilot Programs

While younger students face a complete student AI ban, NYC plans to expose 50,000 high school students to the technology through rigorously tested pilot programs

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. The limited AI pilot program will operate in up to five classes across a small number of high school classrooms, using tools vetted for safety and data privacy standards

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Educational AI tools being piloted include Quill for English language support, Edia for math, Brisk Teaching for guiding study practice, and Playlab and Intel AI-Ready Schools for multi-subject support

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. These tools have set time limits for usage, with students able to use them for a specific number of minutes per week. High schoolers will also receive AI literacy classes twice yearly—45-minute sessions designed to help them think critically about AI before they begin to rely on it

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Screen Time Limits and Device Restrictions Accompany AI Moratorium

Source: New York Post

Source: New York Post

Alongside the ban on AI for students, NYC introduced comprehensive screen time limits. Individual screens will be banned until third grade, with the Department of Education recommending 30 minutes per day for second through fifth graders and a maximum of 45 minutes per day for middle schoolers

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These changes follow NYC's bell-to-bell ban on personal internet-enabled electronic devices, including smartphones, for the 2025-2026 school year

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. Teachers remain permitted to use AI for lesson planning and administrative tasks, and exceptions can be granted for AI tools supporting students with disabilities or multilingual students

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Expert Perspectives on the One-Year Moratorium on AI

Bree Dusseault from the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University views the temporary pause as "the kind of clear, but flexible, AI policy in education approach that is necessary in this kind of fast-evolving moment"

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. She notes its success will depend on what city officials discover about the impact of generative AI tools during the study period.

Dr. Nicole Barnes, the American Psychological Association's executive lead psychologist for education, calls the policies potentially a "home run" if NYC spends the year identifying educational AI tools with high data privacy standards that genuinely support critical thinking rather than just holding attention

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. An APA report co-authored by Barnes found that educational technology products built on generative AI often make unsupported claims about improving learning and critical thinking skills in elementary and middle school students.

National Implications and Future Outlook

Nearly 40% of schools in the U.S. currently ban the use of AI tools in classrooms, with many leaving that decision to individual teachers, according to October 2025 research from College Board

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. NYC's move represents the most restrictive policy to date across the nation, though countries like Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have implemented nationwide changes addressing similar concerns

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Other school districts are watching closely. After NYC and LA blocked access to ChatGPT in schools in 2023, multiple cities followed suit

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. NYC previously imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT soon after its 2022 rollout, later lifting it and replacing it with a custom AI-powered teaching assistant

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The restrictions arrive amid mounting concerns about students using AI for homework and bypassing the learning process, as well as AI tools providing inaccurate information and facilitating inappropriate conversations

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. Last year, a 16-year-old took his life after allegedly discussing suicide methods with ChatGPT, and Character.AI settled a lawsuit brought by a mother who blamed an avatar for her son's death

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. These incidents underscore the urgency behind establishing clear guidelines for AI use in schools while prioritizing human connection and student safety.

Source: GameReactor

Source: GameReactor

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