A New Policy Announced by the NYC Department of Education Bars Younger Students from using Artificial Intelligence (AI), but stops short of a Moratorium.
New York City Public School Children return to the classroom next week, younger students will be barred from using AI. No individual screens will be allowed until third grade. And teachers will not be able to ask AI to grade assignments.
Those rules on technology use are part of a sweeping new policy announced on Wednesday by the city’s Department of Education that will place strict limits on digital devices and AI tools in the city’s school system — the nation’s largest — particularly for its elementary and middle-school students Still, some parents and groups that had called for a two-year moratorium on AI in schools said that the guidelines were disappointing.
Under the rules, about 600,000 students in the city’s schools, about two-thirds of all students in New York City public schools. will not be allowed to use AI until they enter high school, and even then, it will be permitted only in specific cases, The department is also recommending caps on screen time, such as limiting middle schoolers to no more than 45 minutes a day. So-called companion chatbots, which offer emotional and mental support, will be banned in all grades.
City leaders framed the new rules as one of the most restrictive policies on technology in the classroom in the country, one they said protects younger children but also carefully exposes older students to a technology that has quickly evolved. They will be in place for at least the upcoming school year and could be extended or amended after that. “The tech industry wants us to believe that AI-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We do not see it that way.”
Kamar Samuels (I), the schools chancellor, said that the department would be removing or altering nearly 40 apps with AI features that are currently used by students for math, reading and other subjects. “They learn best when they are wrestling with hard problems, when they’re getting it wrong, when they’re trying again and finally getting it right,” Mr. Samuels said on Wednesday. “No app, chatbot, or algorithm can replicate that productive struggle for a child.”
Parents across the country have pushed back against the growing use of digital devices and AI in the classroom, saying that the technology has harmed students, limited their learning and encouraged cheating. The backlash has forced some school districts, including those in Los Angeles, to enact new restrictions on devices in schools. In New York City, parents from all backgrounds have increasingly spoken out about the rapid embrace of AI in schools and the instructional apps used by students, including those that resemble games. Some have formed groups calling for a pause on AI use, an effort that a majority of City Council members endorsed a few months ago.
“This is certainly a step forward,” said Eric Dinowitz, the chair of the Council’s Committee on Education. He added,“I still have a lot of questions.” Mr. Dinowitz said he has urged department leaders to evaluate the AI tools to make sure that they improve student learning and cautioned them not to be swayed by the marketing claims of technology companies. Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Samuels said that they would hold companies accountable and only approve tools shown to help students.
Department leaders have spent the past months crafting a comprehensive guidebook on AI in the classroom and incorporating feedback from parents, elected officials and technology companies. They released an initial set of guidelines in March, which did not restrict digital devices or limit AI in some grades. Before then, teachers and principals had largely operated on their own. Kelly Clancy, a Brooklyn parent who founded Parents for AI Caution and is a member of the Coalition for an AI Moratorium, said that the department should have heeded the calls from parents like her and imposed a temporary moratorium on the technology in all grades.
“The fact that this policy exists at all is due to the enormous work of parents across the city who spoke out against the overreach of AI into their kids’ classroom,” Ms. Clancy said. She said that the policy might be less restrictive than it appears, noting that it has several exceptions that could allow for wider AI use. The new rules will not apply to “centrally approved instructional programs” across all grades, such as e-books and coding software, according to a department summary of the guidelines obtained by The New York Times. It will also not apply to some student tests, or tools to help students with disabilities, and those still learning English.
New York City teachers will not face the same set of restrictions. They can use AI in their jobs, for purposes including crafting of lesson plans, translating material and writing messages. But there are limits: AI cannot be consulted for determining whether a student should graduate, for instance, or for deciding how to counsel a student in crisis. Michael Mulgrew, the president of United Federation of Teachers, the teachers’ union, said in a statement that while he believed the policy “makes sense,” he said he had concerns about what it could require of teachers.
“If we are going to be serious, let’s start at the source, rather than expect school communities or individual educators to figure out after the fact if what their school uses fits the new policy,” he said. The department, of course, cannot stop students from using AI tools outside school. Mr. Samuels said he hoped that the policy would spark conversations between parents and their children about the use of the technology at home. Starting this upcoming school year, just five tools that include AI features will be allowed and only by high schoolers, whose use will be controlled. One app that analyzes text can be used for just 15 minutes per week, for instance.
In addition, all high schoolers will be taught about AI literacy, exploring both the opportunities and pitfalls of the technology, including its capability of producing confident but incorrect information, known as hallucinations. Naveed Hasan, a member of a city education oversight panel who has a background in technology policy, said he hoped that the Department of Education, whose roughly $40 billion budget is the largest of any city agency, would wield its power to force technology companies to change their apps.
“Are we finally using the scale and scope of New York City’s budget and purchasing power to push back on the people that are selling us stuff to tell them to design it in a way that works for us?” he said. “It remains to be seen.”
Michael H. Drucker
