New York City’s public school system plans to impose strict limits on artificial intelligence and screen time in classrooms for the upcoming school year, including a blanket ban on generative AI for instruction and tutoring for all students below high school.
The rules, expected to be released Wednesday, were laid out in a presentation given by city education officials this week. The details of the presentation were shared with Gothamist by four sources who asked to be anonymous because they did not have permission to disclose the plan.
The presentation shows the public school system will impose a one-year “pause” on all student use of artificial intelligence through eighth grade, accounting for about 600,000 children — or two-thirds of students. The rules allow for a “limited” use of the technology among high schoolers for topics such as “AI literacy” and “career readiness.”
The new mandate also puts new restrictions on the use of devices like laptops and tablets by young children. Most students from preschool through second grade will not be permitted to use individual devices in classrooms at all, and the policy places time limits on students’ use of laptops from third through eight grades.
However, assistive technology for students with disabilities and for students learning English will still be allowed, the presentation shows. It also lays out that assessments will continue to be administered by computers, and there will be exceptions for e-books, coding assignments and robotics.
Teachers will be prohibited from using AI for grading, crisis managing and decisions about students’ graduations or promotions, according to the presentation.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The announcement comes just over a week before the start of the new school year, and as the city’s education leaders have struggled to develop a consistent policy on artificial intelligence amid growing public backlash over the technology. The public school system under former Mayor Eric Adams administration banned the technology before later permitting its use.
In March, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced a “traffic light” approach that barred educators from using AI for deciding grades, discipline and special education plans, but allowed it for lesson planning and drafting communications. That policy was criticized as vague on its broad and controversial definition of how students would be allowed to use AI. It gave student use of AI a “yellow light,” meaning educators were instructed to use caution when determining how and when students could use it.
But as the national backlash against artificial intelligence has grown, many New York City parents protested the new policy. Thousands of parents have petitioned for a moratorium on the use of the technology in schools altogether. Parents have also been advocating for limits on screens in schools.
Before summer break, Samuels said he had heard parents’ concerns and was rethinking the policy. He also instructed principals to pause all software purchases until the city released revised rules.
Under the revised guidance, teachers can still use AI for lesson planning, some communication and translation.
Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul implemented a statewide ban on smartphones in schools.