Still, other large districts across the country are embracing the technology.
By Catholics for Catholics
Gotham is prohibiting the use of generative artificial intelligence for public school students from 2K through 8th grade, as part of a larger initiative to limit classroom technology in the nation’s largest school district.
New York City’s one-year moratorium will influence nearly 600,000 public school students, nearly two-thirds of the district’s total enrollment, as part of the policy rollout, according to a story by CNN. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the district will “discontinue or disable the AI components of more than 38 previously allowed programs that do not meet our new safety and oversight standards.”
On Wednesday, Mamdani announced the policy with New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, saying it’s conceived to protect students’ critical thinking abilities as well as the relationships between students and teachers.
Across the nation, many communities have lobbied for stricter bounds on screentime and AI use, along with growing qualms that the technology could stunt students’ learning and development or pose safety risks. Meanwhile, AI companies have rolled out tools for learning and education, and provided funding to teachers’ unions to help develop AI training curricula.
Among them is the gargantuan Los Angeles Unified School District, which this year announced major limitations on classroom screen use and recently moved to “restrict student access to generative AI platforms” while the district reviews safeguards, a LAUSD spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.
Still not all school districts are wary of AI use in the classrooms.
BREAKING: Mayor Zohran Mamdani just announced the nation’s most expansive student-facing AI policy.
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) September 2, 2026
NYC will impose a one-year moratorium on generative AI for students from 2-K through eighth grade, while high schoolers receive twice-yearly AI critical-thinking instruction. A… pic.twitter.com/diTiJfdfOl
One of them is Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest district, according to Tech Policy Press. The district released what it calls a guidebook on generative AI in 2024 that includes principles for integrating the technology into classrooms including transparency and accessibility.
The guidebook, which has been revised several times since its publication, places a major emphasis on understanding what AI is and how it works, and the district has integrated AI literacy into its K-12 curriculum.
In Chicago, students are stimulated to use approved AI tools as a “co-pilot” and to always double-check their output. CPS keeps a list of approved educational technologies that contains AI-powered tools, but remarkably does not include popular systems like ChatGPT and Claude. However, the guidebook does include age restriction information provided by those platforms and others like Gemini and Perplexity.
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