cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1377962/no-ai-until-high-school-nyc-schools-announce-major-classroom-technology-overhaul
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels today announced a moratorium on student-facing generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in schools, alongside a new screen time policy, a decision that will impact nearly 600,000 public school students, or two-thirds of the system’s total enrollment. The policy establishes a one-year moratorium, effective in the 2026-2027 school year, on student-facing generative AI for children in 2-K through 8th grade. It also introduces twice-yearly AI critical thinking modules for high schoolers, limited AI pilots for a small number of high school classrooms and age-appropriate screen time restrictions.
They’re not compatible, under the current paradigms. You’re not wrong, imo.
But neither is the commenter you’re replying to.
It ain’t going away, and as it is (in every respect from function to marketing to access) ‘AI’ is currently absolutely poisonous for mental development, no matter the age.
But that’s not inherently married to the way it will always be used.
Imo, the ban should be in place all the way in K-12, for no less than 5 years, and some resources devoted to enable school districts to engage the necessary mechanisms to assess how to marry the use of AI technology into educational use, with an actual thorough process in place to assess how and if it can be done in a manner beneficial to educational goals.
It’s not enough to have a techbro declare it the best thing in the world for learning, a child development psychologist declare it the worst thing to exist, and an education expert sitting between them looking anguished.
They need to all be locked in the same room, metaphorically speaking, and honestly arrive at a form that is meaningfully impactful to student outcomes (if one can be found), before it’s something that schools should attempt to use within the curriculum.