AI backlash reaches the classroom in US

The two largest school districts in the US have introduced sweeping restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI), as concerns grow over its impact on pupils and learning.

New York City's public school district has blocked AI use for about 600,000 pupils from pre-K through eighth grade, while allowing limited uses for high school students, Axios reports.

Hours later, Los Angeles Unified introduced a districtwide moratorium on AI use on school devices for the 2026-27 school year, following a separate crackdown on screen time.

In Chicago, candidates for the school board are also backing a pledge calling for a three-year moratorium on generative AI in schools.

Research into AI's educational value remains mixed. Some studies have found that personalised AI tutors can improve learning, while other research has linked AI-assisted essay writing to weaker critical-thinking skills.

Nicki Petrossi, a mother and co-founder of the Tech-Safe Learning Coalition, said one parent had described today's children as "the guinea pig generation", adding: "you won't find a parent who's not concerned about this."

Another parent told her that their "five-year-old, who still believes in the Tooth Fairy, [is] being asked to interact with chatbots. What could go wrong?"

However, some educators have warned that broad bans could also remove useful educational tools.

"If you're working with students with special needs or English language [learning] students...there are a lot of benefits to using technology that allow us to augment the lessons," Janice Jackson, executive director of the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program and former Chicago Public Schools CEO, told Axios. "We shouldn't throw that out."

"The jury is still out on the quality of each policy, and that is not an indictment on any of these policies. It's more related to the fact that this is still very new," she said.

Enforcing AI bans could also prove difficult because the technology is already integrated into classroom tools. Google's Gemini, for example, can appear when pupils search on school Chromebooks.

A recent NPR/Ipsos poll found that 55% of teachers believe pupils mostly use AI as a shortcut to avoid work. Some 54% said it makes critical-thinking skills harder to build, while 57% said it makes it harder to assess what pupils actually know.

More than half of teachers said their schools had not provided guidance on how to deal with AI.

"The ed tech industry has a reckoning coming," said Brendan Bouffard, associate general counsel at Fairplay, noting that several states are considering stronger legislative safeguards.

"It's going to be good to see some real standards put in place to help make sure that these tools are being used safely and effectively for students, and that these tech companies are actually held accountable for what they're selling."

By Aghakazim Guliyev