What did New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announce regarding artificial-intelligence use in public schools—including the one-year moratorium affecting about 600,000 elementary and middle school students through eighth grade, the approximately 40 educational tools being halted,

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative-AI use in New York City public schools for the 2026–27 school year. It covers children from 2-K through eighth grade—nearly 600,000 students, about two-thirds of system enrollment—and is described as the nation’s broadest student-facing AI restriction. 1

• Schools will suspend use of roughly 40 existing AI-based educational tools in affected classrooms. 2

• High-school AI use is not broadly authorized: it is limited to five supervised, vetted pilot programs, reaching at most 50,000 general-education students (about 5% of the public-school population). Students also receive two AI-literacy modules each year covering AI’s limits, bias, risks, ethics, and career implications. 1

• Teachers may still use AI for non-student-facing work, including lesson planning and administrative tasks such as scheduling. 2

• The city said younger students need teachers, peer interaction, relationships with educators, and opportunities to work through difficult problems independently. The policy is also intended to protect human connection, curiosity, creativity, child development, safety, and well-being while the city studies AI’s educational effects. 12

• Officials characterized it as the most restrictive—or most expansive—student-facing AI measure in the United States. Other districts, including Los Angeles, were reviewing their AI policies rather than imposing an equivalent ban. 12

• Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. 2

• NYC had briefly banned ChatGPT after its 2022 launch, then lifted that restriction and replaced it with a custom AI-powered teaching assistant, according to Microsoft. 2