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NYC Bans Pre-High School AI for 600,000 Students

9/2/2026

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Summary

Mayor Bans AI

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced an AI ban for pre-high-school students.
The policy pauses AI for roughly 600,000 learners until high school.
Preschool through second-grade students may not use laptops or tablets in class.
Third- to eighth-grade pupils receive limited laptop time while screens remain banned until third grade.
Teachers may use AI for lesson plans but not for grading, crisis management, or evaluating performance.

Summary

Council Urges Pause

More than half of City Council members signed a letter urging Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Samuels to pause AI use.
Thousands of parents signed a petition demanding a moratorium on generative AI in schools.
The Education Department is forming a task force to guide policy implementation.
Exceptions will permit AI tools for English learners and students with disabilities during assessments.

History

Historical Context

The 1998 Children’s Internet Protection Act tied federal E-Rate aid to mandatory web-filtering, prompting about one-third of U.S. public libraries to forfeit those funds and leading the Supreme Court to uphold the rule in 2003. That conditional-funding model, administered by the FCC, now informs city officials’ 2024 decision to pause AI tools for hundreds of thousands of students.

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Mayor Bans AI

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced an AI ban for pre-high-school students.
The policy pauses AI for roughly 600,000 learners until high school.
Preschool through second-grade students may not use laptops or tablets in class.
Third- to eighth-grade pupils receive limited laptop time while screens remain banned until third grade.
Teachers may use AI for lesson plans but not for grading, crisis management, or evaluating performance.

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