Overview
- This week roughly 500 New York City artists and cultural workers published an open letter urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to impose a two‑year moratorium on generative AI in public schools and named high‑profile signatories such as Nan Goldin and Molly Crabapple.
- A majority of the City Council has backed a pause and held an oversight hearing on Wednesday to examine data privacy and security concerns in the school system.
- The New York City Department of Education says it has put initial AI guardrails in place and is developing a formal policy with families and communities but has not enacted a moratorium.
- Advocates say AI tools are being rapidly added to classroom portals and cite examples including Google Gemini on district devices and AI features in the HMH reading platform, though independent verification of wide installation is limited.
- The campaign, which began in August 2025 and has a petition with more than 4,000 signatures, builds on research highlighting risks to student privacy, creativity, and bias in educational AI and could influence city and national school policies.