Mamdani Bans AI in NYC Schools

MisterKent

Good. The more I use AI the more I feel like it will drag humanity into a local maxima that we'll never be able to escape from.

ChrisArchitect

Title: New York City Bans A.I. in Elementary and Middle Schools non-paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/nyregion/ai-ban-schools-n...

rmason

This makes about as much sense to me as banning all personal computers in the eighties from schools. You are putting these kids at a decided disadvantage.

taybin

Good. Kids need to learn how to think before letting other stuff do it for them.

tehjoker

Thank you Mayor Mamdani and the DSA. This is a major win for keeping children from losing their minds, retaining education quality, and promoting socialization.

WCSTombs

Here's another (non-paywalled) source for this news: https://abcnews.com/Technology/new-york-city-public-schools-... The ban goes through eighth grade, and in high school apparently there's a specific AI literacy class. It's unclear from the article if that's the only AI in high school or it's just unregulated. My opinion: it's a good policy and frankly just common sense. - Students using AI risk offloading their cognition onto the AI and thereby skipping the actual learning process. - Teachers using AI likewise do a disservice to the students. In the middle of all that, there may actually be a version of AI that can help people learn without incurring the major downsides, but I've not seen any evidence of that in the current AI systems, to the point that an outright ban in the school setting makes sense. I'm heartened to see more education organizations think similarly [1]. [1]: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/academics/registrar/academic-ru...

summermusic

I can see the 2040 study already: “Schoolchildren who did not use AI in primary school show higher outcomes”

spking

https://archive.ph/borIf

danbrooks

Seems like a well designed policy. Currently for one year and up to the middle school level.

petilon

Forget AI, silicon valley parents don't want their kids using phones and computers either. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/silicon-valley-parent... https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/technology/silicon-valley...

VCFundedGenYer

Good. We need this everywhere.

sfpotter

*moves back to NYC*

MattDamonSpace

Seems premature but then again humans are always a bit skiddish around change Still, not shocking that the DSA stronghold that elected someone like Mamdani is going to be passionate against AI. Will be interesting to watch outcomes diverge over the next few years. If you’re gonna ban stuff, do it at local levels like this so we can see differences play out across many locations/districts.

amclennon

Makes sense. I had to learn how to add / subtract before I could use a calculator. Note: This policy doesn't seem to apply to high school

carabiner

Yep, just like the tech elite. Peter Thiel limits his kids to 90 min/week screentime.

legitster

Even if you're pro-AI, there's a reason calculators are banned from math classes until a certain point. It seems like a no-brainer to have people learn on hammers before moving them to nailguns. I can't help but think of this Chesterton Quote: "It is, on the contrary, a thing analogous to writing one's own love-letters or blowing one's own nose. These things we want a man to do for himself, even if he does them badly. I am not here arguing the truth of any of these conceptions; I know that some moderns are asking to have their wives chosen by scientists, and they may soon be asking, for all I know, to have their noses blown by nurses."

doodlebugging

I agree with other posters that kids need to learn critical thinking skills at an early age. I hope we don't see Texas educators trying to take the opposite side of the coin and mandating AI teachers at all (or any) levels just to try to own some more libs in NYC. This state has enough problems.

dayyan

I remember a scene in Star Trek, where an AI is used to help teach the little Vulcan kids.

mupuff1234

But I assume students already aren't allowed to just submit genAI output and afaik most classes don't involve computer use, so what's really the change?

ElProlactin

It's interesting to see the difference (so far) in comments about banning AI versus banning social media.