{"id":335573,"date":"2026-09-02T03:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T03:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335573\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T03:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T03:30:12","slug":"nyc-public-schools-to-ban-generative-ai-for-students-in-elementary-and-middle-school-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335573\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC public schools to ban generative AI for students in elementary and middle school"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 New York City’s public school system is set to release a policy on artificial intelligence \u2014 which will include a ban on the use of generative AI for all students in 2-K through eighth grade<\/a>, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

The new rules mean that no children in preschool, elementary school, and middle school should have access to education software that uses student-facing AI, including instructional programs and AI tutors<\/a>. The prohibition covers nearly 600,000 public school students, or two-thirds of the system’s total enrollment.<\/p>\n

The policy also bans individual devices in the classroom for preschool and the earlier grades of elementary school.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t immediately clear how the new policy would be enforced. The city’s Department of Education did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

“Younger students need hands-on learning, social interaction, play and teacher-guided instruction. Routine individual screen use can crowd out those experiences,” read official New York City Public School slides shared in a series of briefings on Tuesday afternoon obtained by The News.<\/p>\n

“By contrast, high school students need guided preparation for a world and economy increasingly driven by AI and new technologies \u2014 paired with instruction on how AI works, its biases and risks, and how to evaluate its outputs.”<\/p>\n

In high school, the use of AI in classrooms will be “restricted,” according to the slides. The new technology may be used in a limited way, including for AI literacy, career and certification programs, and five approved pilot programs in select schools.<\/p>\n

“All use must be coupled with teacher supervision\u2026 and the necessity for students to retain ownership of their thinking and work,” the slides added. “Pilot tools will not replace teachers.”<\/p>\n

The AI policy is coming months late as intense pressure from parents and teachers<\/a> forced the school system to delay its timeline.<\/p>\n

But the final rules are set to go even further, governing not only generative AI but also screen time, particularly in the younger grades.<\/p>\n

According to the slides, the school system will prohibit one-to-one screen time for 2-K through 2nd grade. Education officials also recommended no more than 30 minutes of individual device-use by students in the 3rd through 5th grade, and 45 minutes for 6th through 8th grade. Screen time in high school may vary across schools and subject matter.<\/p>\n

The policy contains exemptions for assistive technology used by students with disabilities or learning English as a new language; short assessments and diagnostic tests; remote learning days; and some instructional programs approved by the school system, such as e-books, robotics, coding and simulations, the slides said.<\/p>\n

Education officials released a first draft in March, with a final policy due a few months later in June<\/a>. But the plan prompted fierce backlash over a lack of guardrails for children’s use of AI.<\/p>\n

The draft largely focused on how teachers and principals should approach AI, but glossed over how to stop students from offloading their critical thinking skills and creativity<\/a> to the new technology.<\/p>\n

Parents descended on monthly school board meetings and protested outside City Hall. An online petition that called for a two-year moratorium on AI in schools received some 5,000 signatures<\/a>. The City Council took heed, and a majority of members signed onto a letter in support of an immediate pause<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During a high-profile Council hearing, school officials conceded they were going to miss their own deadline<\/a>, but promised to issue a final policy before the first day of school. Meanwhile, principals were told to pause new education technology purchases<\/a> as the school system hashed out the much-delayed guidance.<\/p>\n

Backlash grew this summer after an upstate New York school district purchased an AI-powered robot<\/a> \u2014 giving ammunition to parents and unions’ worst fears that the new technology could replace teachers. A plan to deploy the robot in the classroom is now on pause.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 New York City’s public school system is set to release a policy on artificial intelligence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3250,9,21395,56,63,65,64,37770,126130],"class_list":["post-335573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-ai","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-citys","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-the-city-council","tag-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}