Twenty-nine Council members — out of a total 51 — penned a letter Tuesday asking Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, to “immediately pause” the use of generative AI in education, with far-reaching concerns about the preliminary guidance.
“The draft AI guidance posted by the NYC Department of Education is flawed and fails to address the primary concerns of parents and education researchers,” the elected officials wrote. “We urge you to hold off and pause the use of AI in our schools except for education on the multiple risks in employing the technology until rigorous guardrails can be developed with public and expert input, to prevent serious damage to NYC children and their future.”
The letter was drafted by Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, a Brooklyn Democrat, and education advocates, who again rallied for a moratorium on AI in schools outside City Hall with parents, teachers and the “Broad City” actress and comedian Ilana Glazer. It followed a similar protest in April organized by the same coalition.
“AI is a shortcut,” Aviles said at the rally. “It is shown to risk the educational abilities of our students more often than it is supporting them. It is littered with bias and inequities.”
“As students and parents have to spend every day worried about immigration enforcement threatening them and their loved ones, no one needs to come to a classroom fearing data privacy concerns.”
The rare bipartisan memo shows how anti-AI sentiment spans the political spectrum. The signers range from members from the Democratic Socialists of America, including Aviles and Shahana Hanif, a Brooklyn Democrat, to conservative Democrats and a Republican, Councilwoman Joann Ariola of Queens.
The backlash against AI — and screens more generally — hit a breaking point in March when the school system released the draft guidance, encouraging teachers to explore using the technology in lesson plans and school communications, but prohibiting its use for grading or discipline.
The final guidance was scheduled to be released this month, though that timeline has been called into question after Samuels admitted in a recent speech that he “missed the mark” with the rollout, the education news source Chalkbeat reported. The chancellor had also proposed opening the city’s first AI-focused high school, but paused those plans amid public outcry.
In their letter, Council members said the draft guidance fell short of addressing student data privacy concerns and engaging parents and teachers. “Most crucially,” the politicians wrote, “it offers no measures on how the documented risks of AI will prevent student learning, cognitive development, basic skills, creativity, critical thinking, mental health, and the environment.”
The City Council plans to hold an oversight hearing on AI in schools on June 24, though Samuels started to face questions about the technology and screens at a budget hearing on Monday.
“As someone who has young kids, as well, something I’m super concerned about (is) thinking about screen time and what that means for our school system,” Samuels said.
The chancellor said he recently surveyed principals to get a sense of how schools are using educational technology, and is thinking about how to assess the effectiveness of those tools.
“More to come on that,” he said, “but that’s something that we are looking really seriously at.”
Education officials are currently in the process of reviewing the feedback received on the draft guidance.
“Earlier this year, New York City Public Schools took the first step to put initial guardrails in place while developing a policy to protect our students in partnership with families and communities,” read a statement. “We will be sharing more soon.”
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