New York bans AI in elementary schools
City’s largest school district bars laptops and tablets in classrooms through third grade as part of a broader technology policy.
New York will ban the use of artificial intelligence in public schools through eighth grade, part of a wider overhaul of technology rules in the country’s largest school district, which serves roughly 900,000 students annually.
As part of the policy, students will not be allowed to use laptops and tablets inside classrooms through third grade — that is, until the ninth or tenth year of life.
Limits, not a full prohibition for older pupils
Teachers and parents have raised alarms about classroom software driven by AI, citing worries that such tools could harm children’s mental health and interfere with normal cognitive development.
The new rules will permit AI use only in high schools (which, under the American system, begin in ninth grade), and even then the technology will be restricted to specific, approved purposes.
The measure is presented as a comprehensive attempt to redefine how digital devices and machine‑learning tools are deployed across classrooms in the district, with officials saying younger pupils should have limited exposure while instructional uses are more tightly controlled at the secondary level.
Photo: press material from the event
