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.

Expecting “individualized” education from a technology known for being abused in sloppy ways, for being non-deterministic to the point it’s producing NSFL content if it doesn’t have safeguards, and that hallucinates inaccurate information while being controlled by the most powerful sociopaths in the world then…

Yeah. That’s a reasonable expectation and not unsafe at all my dude. /s