New York public schools are entering a different educational phase with one of the strictest decisions in the United States regarding the use of artificial intelligence, after the city imposed a one-year freeze on the use of these tools in the lower grades, in a move that reflects growing concern about the impact of technology on children and on their social and intellectual skills during the developmental years.

According to a report on the Israeli “Mako” website, based on “The Verge” website, the New York City Municipality announced that, starting from the 2026-2027 academic year, students from the age of two years until the eighth grade in public schools will not be allowed to use artificial intelligence tools within the classroom.

The decision is expected to include about 600,000 students, and comes in parallel with additional restrictions imposed by the city on the use of screens and digital devices inside schools.

New York Mayor Zahran Mamdani said: “Children need teachers and human contact in order to learn and grow. “They need to develop their skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators, and deal with difficult problems themselves.”

He added: “The technology industry wants us to believe that education at an early age with artificial intelligence is not only inevitable, but necessary. We don’t see it that way.”

According to new rules set by the city’s education department, teachers will also not be allowed to use artificial intelligence tools to correct work or award grades.

Students will only be able to use this technology when they reach secondary school, and even then use will be limited to specific cases.

Also, chatbots intended for personal accompaniment or to provide psychological and emotional support will be prohibited at all age levels.

In high school, starting in the US in the ninth grade, twice a year students will receive lessons in culture related to artificial intelligence, with the aim of helping them “think critically” before they start “relying on it.”

In parallel, the use of personal screens will be prohibited until the third grade, while the New York City Municipality recommends that in middle schools the time of using screens does not exceed 45 minutes per day.

The new restrictions do not completely close the door to technology, as teachers will still be able to use artificial intelligence to plan lessons.

Exceptions will also be made for tools that assist students with disabilities or multilingual students, and additional exceptions may be granted for specific purposes, including some computer science programs.

In parallel with the ban, New York intends to implement a limited pilot project to use artificial intelligence in up to 5 classes within a small number of high schools.

The tools that will be used in the project have been tested according to standards related to safety and data privacy, with an emphasis on the student remaining the “primary thinker” in the educational process.

Time periods have also been set in advance for using these tools, and they include “Quil” to support learning the English language, “Idea” for mathematics, “Brisk Teaching” to guide educational exercises, in addition to “PlayLab” and “Intel AI-ReadySchools” to support a number of academic subjects.

The decision comes after the public education system in New York had already announced, during the 2025-2026 academic year, a ban on the use of personal electronic devices connected to the Internet, including smartphones, throughout the school day.

School district officials say the new policy is among the strictest in the United States.

The move comes at a time when countries such as Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands have pushed for changes at the national level out of the same concern about what technology can do to still-developing brains.

Thus, New York’s decision does not appear to be just a technology ban in the classroom, but rather an attempt to redraw the boundaries between education and technology, by keeping artificial intelligence as an auxiliary tool and not a substitute for the teacher and human interaction in the early years of a child’s formation.