New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced a one-year ban on generative AI tools in public schools for pupils up to eighth grade, starting in the 2026-2027 school year and affecting roughly 600,000 students. The move responds to mounting concern from parents, teachers' unions and city officials about AI's impact on children's development, with Mamdani framing it as a bid to preserve "human connection" and prioritise problem-solving and social skills learned from teachers and peers rather than chatbots.

During the ban, a coalition of educators, parents and elected officials will study the technology's effects on children and recommend next steps. High schools are exempt and some will run closely monitored AI pilot programmes, alongside twice-yearly lessons in critical thinking about AI; teachers may still use generative AI for lesson planning and administrative tasks if it meets safety standards, with exceptions for assistive technology, multilingual learners and career-readiness pupils. The policy also introduces non-mandatory screen time guidelines of 30 minutes daily for elementary pupils and 45 minutes for middle schoolers, and follows similar restrictions in Norway and Italy, as US lawmakers separately debate federal age-verification rules for AI chatbots.