NYC’s AI ban through grade 8 sets stage for rest of US, experts say

New York City’s ban on use of artificial intelligence in the classroom for elementary and middle school students in the city’s public school system – the largest in the country – could set the stage for how other school systems in the United States tailor their approach to the use of AI, experts say.

The moratorium, which was announced on Wednesday, will last for one year and will end the use of 40 different educational tools impacting 600,000 students. The ban will not bar teachers from using the technology to create lesson plans.

“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,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a news conference on Wednesday.

“The tech industry wants us to believe that AI-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We do not see it that way.”

Mamdani added that the city will spend the next year studying how the policy will impact students. The city’s public school system will also launch a pilot programme in high schools for a limited number of students.

Among the tools being tested will be the maths AI platform Edia, which will provide “step-by-step coaching” and prompting students to explain their reasoning. Its use will be limited to 20 minutes each week. Another tool, Quill, will be used in English language arts courses and will be limited to 15 minutes each week.

“The mayor is giving schools, parents, scholars the runway to study what the impact on our education system these tools will actually have,” Adin Lenchner, founder of the New York-based political consultancy Carroll Street Campaigns, told Al Jazeera.

“This feels like the kind of leadership that people were actually hungry for — standing up to corporate interests and looking out for students.”