New York City Public Schools is banning the use of artificial intelligence in elementary and middle school classrooms for the new academic year.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamadani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced last Wednesday that the nation’s largest school district will have a one-year moratorium on AI use in schools for students, along with a new screentime policy.

“Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow. They need to develop skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators and wrestle with tough problems on their own,” Mamdani said in a news release Wednesday. “The tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary. We do not see it that way. That’s why we’re implementing a moratorium on generative AI for students in 2-K through 8th grade and spending the next year studying the impacts of this technology.”