New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Education Director Kamar Samuels announced a one-year ban on generative AI for grades 2-K to 8 during the 2026-2027 school year, affecting approximately 600,000 students, about two-thirds of the public school system, claiming it is the broadest suspension of its kind in the U.S. for students.

The ban covers generative software for students, prohibiting companion chatbots and blocking mainstream services like ChatGPT and Claude. AI features in about 40 approved teaching tools will be disabled or turned off. Teachers may use these tools for lesson planning and scheduling but not for grading, assessments, or decisions regarding advancement and graduation. Exceptions are made for assistive technology for disabilities, English learners, some programming, and e-books.

Screen policy: Personal devices are generally not used in classrooms for pre-K to second grade; grades 3 to 5 are advised to limit screen time to no more than 30 minutes daily, and grades 6 to 8 to no more than 45 minutes. High schools will not be fully open, with limited pilot programs including time-restricted tools like Quill and Edia, and all high school students are required to take AI literacy courses twice a year. A coalition of parents, students, teachers, and experts will be formed to assess the situation after one year.

Mamdani stated that the tech industry claims that AI in early education is inevitable and necessary, saying, "We do not see it that way," and noted that no beneficial research for elementary and middle schools has been observed. New York briefly banned ChatGPT after its release but later introduced customized teaching assistants. School districts like Los Angeles are still reviewing their policies. Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft did not immediately comment.

The largest school district is using a one-year window to remove products from classrooms and reclaim decision-making power for teachers. Home devices and off-campus accounts are not within the physical scope of this school order.

In market mechanisms, the buyers are educational technology suppliers needing classroom seats, and the sellers are school districts closing interfaces for safety and attention reasons. The driving force is municipal policy, categorized as a regulatory event. Funding is shifting from generative tools billed by seat to non-generative educational materials and teacher hours. Beneficiaries are teachers' unions advocating for interpersonal teaching, while about 40 product lines embedded in New York classrooms are under pressure.

Source: Public information