New York City’s one-year AI moratorium covers 600,000 students through eighth grade

• NYC Public Schools’ one-year moratorium applies to student-facing generative AI in grades 2-K through eight and affects nearly 600,000 students. ^[1]
• High schools will receive two 45-minute AI-literacy modules and may apply for five centrally approved pilots, including programs from Quill, Edia, Brisk Teaching, Playlab and Intel AI-Ready Schools. ^[2]
• Teachers may use approved AI for lesson planning and operational work, but not for grading, behavior monitoring or decisions about placement, promotion or graduation. ^[2]
• The city has said it is disabling AI features in 38 existing software programs, but has not published the full list or a detailed enforcement regime. ^[3]

New York City Public Schools will bar students from using student-facing generative artificial intelligence in grades 2-K through eight during the 2026–27 school year, a one-year moratorium that city officials say will cover nearly 600,000 children. The policy takes effect as students return on September 10, 2026. [1] The restriction covers software that generates text, images, audio or other content in response to student prompts. It does not prohibit every technology that uses artificial intelligence: assistive tools required by an Individualized Education Program or 504 Plan, language-access tools for English Language Learners and several centrally approved instructional uses remain exempt. [2]

What the policy prohibits—and what it leaves open #

NYCPS defines the restriction by function rather than by vendor. Software that uses student-facing generative AI is not permitted in grades 2-K through eight. The city has also said companion chatbots are prohibited across all grades. [2][4]

The policy sets separate screen-use rules. Students in 2-K through grade 2 will have no one-to-one screen time; the department recommends no more than 30 minutes of daily individual screen use for grades 3 through 5 and no more than 45 minutes for grades 6 through 8. Those limits do not apply to assistive technology, assessments, remote instruction or centrally approved uses such as e-books, robotics, coding and simulations. [2]

Students in grades 9 through 12 will receive two required 45-minute AI-literacy modules covering how AI works, data privacy, bias and appropriate school use. High schools can apply case by case for five pilots: Quill, Edia, Brisk Teaching, Playlab and Intel AI-Ready Schools. Students may participate in only one pilot, and the city says use will be supervised by teachers. [2]

Existing products and procurement are the immediate test #

City officials said they are disabling AI features in 38 software programs already used by NYCPS, but have not released the names of all those products. Chalkbeat reported that the city identified the Amira digital tutor and the digital version of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s reading curriculum as products whose AI components would be turned off. [3]

The written guidance says every tool must pass the Education Department’s Enterprise Request Management Application, or ERMA, review before it can be used with students. The review currently covers data privacy and security. NYCPS says it plans to expand its evaluation capacity to include algorithmic bias, equity impact and instructional effectiveness. [2]

Under the guidance, vendors must explain what student data they collect and how they protect it under New York Education Law 2-d and related regulations. Teachers and staff may continue using approved AI for instructional planning and operational tasks, but not for grading, behavior monitoring or decisions involving placement, promotion or graduation. [2]

The announcement came from City Hall and the chancellor, not a documented board vote #

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced the policy on September 2, 2026, and NYCPS published the written guidance the same day. The guidance identifies the Panel for Educational Policy, community education councils and school leadership teams as channels for family participation in future technology decisions. [1][2]

The materials reviewed for this article do not identify a separate Panel for Educational Policy vote approving the moratorium. The policy was issued as NYCPS guidance for the 2026–27 school year, while a new Technology in Schools Coalition is expected to advise on longer-term rules and deliver recommendations in April 2027. [2]

The written guidance does not establish a detailed student-discipline schedule or technical enforcement plan. It directs families with concerns about AI tools to contact their principal, school leadership team or community education council. Chalkbeat reported that officials had not answered key questions about how the city would determine whether products contained unacceptable AI features or how existing contracts would be handled. [3]

Teachers and parent groups support parts of the , with reservations #

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew supported the limits on individual screen use but said the AI policy left unanswered how aggressively the Education Department would require safeguards in products it purchases. “Let's start at the source,” Mulgrew said, rather than leave school communities and teachers to determine after the fact whether a tool complies. [5]

Child-safety organization Fairplay and the coalition seeking an AI moratorium in New York City called the policy a step in the right direction but objected to the high-school pilots and the short evaluation period. Fairplay executive director Josh Golin told The Associated Press that one year was not enough time to establish whether AI products are safe, effective, preserve face-to-face instruction and avoid enabling cheating. [4]

The National Parents Union called for the city to the policy and publish the names of every centrally approved instructional program exempted from the moratorium. Tech:NYC chief executive Julie Samuels separately argued that the restrictions may go too far. [6][7]

Civil-liberties groups were not quoted in the main September 2 announcement. In June testimony to the City Council, the Center for Democracy and Technology had warned that NYC school technology oversight needed stronger safeguards for privacy, security, bias and accounting of the tools used in schools; that testimony predates the moratorium and was not a direct response to it. [8]

The major AI companies named in independent coverage—Google, Anthropic and Microsoft—did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No public response from OpenAI was identified in the coverage reviewed. [9]

Companies mentioned #

Further sources #

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