Elementary and middle-school students in New York City won’t have AI this year.
The city has banned AI until high school and recommended daily limits on screen usage. Teachers can use AI for planning but not for grading.
“The tech industry wants us to believe that AI-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We do not see it that way.”
Credit to Mamdani for taking bold action. The negative impacts of AI on learning are well documented.
But the impact of a classroom ban is questionable. Students will still use AI at home, which means kids with access get an advantage over those without. It also punts the discussion on when to use AI to parents.
The other downside is restricting teachers’ use with students. Some will breathe a sigh of relief, but the ones who were innovating with it are cut off.
Mamdani said he hasn’t seen a study showing AI benefits K-8 students in the classroom.
Now we have an experiment in the largest school district in America.