AI banned for 600,000 NYC students this school year

Nearly 600,000 New York City students are heading back to school under a new rule: no generative AI, full stop, for most of them. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the one-year moratorium on September 2, covering students from 2-K through eighth grade, roughly two-thirds of the district's total enrolment, and calling it the most expansive AI restriction in the country.

The NYC policy eliminates all student-facing generative AI software for younger grades and prohibits companion chatbots across every grade level, including high school.

The district will also disable AI components in more than 38 previously approved programmes that don't meet its new safety standards. High schoolers aren't left out entirely: about 50,000 of them, roughly 5% of the student body, will take part in five limited AI pilot programmes, while all high schoolers get twice-yearly AI literacy classes designed to build critical thinking before students start relying on the tools.

LAUSD, the country's second-largest district, went further on September 3, blocking most generative AI on district devices across all grades while it develops a formal policy.

The reversal is notable given the district's own history: in 2024, LAUSD launched an AI chatbot called "Ed", touted as pioneering, only to watch it collapse within months amid turmoil at the company that built it.

These bans do not constitute part of any overarching federal strategy but rather form two examples among a diverse set of policies that differ considerably from state to state or district to district.

In fact, New York City made its own contradictory decisions previously in 2023 when it banned ChatGPT only to lift the ban several months later, realising that the initial scare might have been overestimated.

According to Chris Agnew, who directs Generative AI for Education Hub at Stanford University, school districts are making a mistake when focusing on questions of bans vs access.

Instead, according to Mr Agnew, they should focus on capabilities that students can gain through their experience and whether AI facilitates these experiences or not.