No AI until high school: NYC mayor Mamdani imposes 1 year ban on AI for schools through 8th grade

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1377962/no-ai-until-high-school-nyc-schools-announce-major-classroom-technology-overhaul

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels today announced a moratorium on student-facing generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in schools, alongside a new screen time policy, a decision that will impact nearly 600,000 public school students, or two-thirds of the system’s total enrollment. The policy establishes a one-year moratorium, effective in the 2026-2027 school year, on student-facing generative AI for children in 2-K through 8th grade. It also introduces twice-yearly AI critical thinking modules for high schoolers, limited AI pilots for a small number of high school classrooms and age-appropriate screen time restrictions.

www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/mayor-mamdani-and-chancellor-samuels-put-students-first-with-nat

I have a feeling NYC school test scores will get a lot higher under Mamdani. Reports suggests more tech doesn’t mean better education. It just creates more distractions.

TBD. I’m no fan of AI or especially the companies. But every kid learns differently and our schools are not built for some kids’ learning styles. AI can customize for every single student.

I feel like the ones that could benefit most from AI teachers are the ones in these huge classroom where the teachers can’t give individual help. And AI would be perfect for these grades as the topics are much more basic and easier for AI to get right.

Anyway, I don’t think this’ll be a popular comment, but I also don’t think it’s wrong.

I can confidently say that if we had tablets or laptops in school before high school, we’d absolutely fuck off with them and mess around. Even back then when we’d go to the computer lab, a lot of people would just fuck around rather than play Type to Learn lol

Not sure what your point is as my comment is about students and learning from AI. Not about tablets and laptops.

And how do you think AI is interacted with? On what device?