NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 27: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Mamdani announced that the five upcoming city-owned grocery stores will offer a 30 percent discount on produce, meat, bread, and milk when they begin to open next year. The discount on essential items will potentially save shoppers an estimated $90 a month, or roughly $1,000 a year, as prices for food and other items continue to rise throughout the country. The mayor has pledged one community grocery store for each borough. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (TNND) —New York City is moving to sharply limit how students interact with generative artificial intelligence in classrooms, rolling out a sweeping one-year banthat will affect hundreds of thousands of children when school resumes next week.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a one-year prohibition on student-facing generative AI for public school students through eighth grade for the upcoming school year. The policy applies to all software that uses student-facing generative AI and impacts about 600,000 students in the nation’s largest school district. City officials described the move as the country’s most expansive AI prohibition for students.
The restrictions also target AI companion chatbots, which will be barred for students in all grades.
Under the plan, high school students will take AI-literacy classes twice a year. Some high schoolers will also be allowed to use select AI tools in educator-supervised pilot programs.
Teachers will still be permitted to use AI for instructional planning and operational work, but the policy bars its use for grading or crisis management.
The city is also recommending tighter limits on student screen time. Officials will recommend daily device-screen-time limits of 30 minutes for grades three through five and 45 minutes for grades six through eight. Students in prekindergarten through second grade will largely be barred from using individual devices in class, with exceptions for assistive technology, coding assignments and e-books.
Education officials will review all technology used in the school system and eliminate tools deemed nonessential to learning.
GLASTONBURY, UNITED KINGDOM – NOVEMBER 25: In this photo illustration 13-month old Zac Cardy uses a iPad at his home on November 25, 2011 in Glastonbury, United Kingdom. Tablet computers have become the most wanted Christmas present for children between the ages of 6-11 years. Many parents are having to share their tablet computers with their children as software companies release hundredes of educational and fun applications each month. (Photo by Matt Cardy/
The policy follows pushback from parents, advocates, and elected officials who argued earlier city guidance did not sufficiently address student privacy, cognitive development, and screen-time concerns. New York City students are scheduled to return to school next week.
