The largest US school districts restrict student AI use

The country's two largest school districts — New York City and Los Angeles — banned most student use of artificial intelligence in classrooms for this school year as anxiety over AI's effect on learning intensifies. The Los Angeles Unified School District announced last week that it is barring student use of generative AI on school-issued devices for the current school year. Generative AI creates new text, images or other content following a user's instructions. During the school year, a committee will produce recommendations for use of the technology in future years. New York City Public Schools last week announced a similar but less broad approach. The district put in place a one-year moratorium on generative AI for children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. High school students will have to complete 45-minute AI literacy modules twice a year. Some career-focused AI use will be allowed and some high schools will be permitted to test AI pilot programs. The restrictions, which New York officials said will affect 600,000 students, will allow time to study the technology's impacts. 'The tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary,' Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a news release. 'We do not see it that way.' Chicago officials may follow suit. About half the candidates running for the Chicago Board of Education this November have signed a pledge calling for a three-year moratorium on generative AI use in the public school classrooms. Smaller school districts around the country have taken similar steps. Districts in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have blocked or limited tools such as ChatGPT, while some allow approved platforms under teacher supervision. Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at [email protected].