NYC Schools' AI Tool Restrictions Spark Pushback From Education Companies

Days before the school year began, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the AI components of more than 38 previously approved products used in New York City public schools would be discontinued or disabled. After more than a month of requests, Chalkbeat obtained the list from the Education Department. It includes widely used reading and math curricula, student assessment tools, and even a chatbot the Education Department itself built in partnership with Microsoft and deployed in six schools.

The restrictions target student-facing generative AI features, not necessarily the full products, and several companies have already disabled those features and been cleared to keep operating in city schools. But others dispute that their tools use the kind of artificial intelligence covered by the policy. Wordly, a translation tool for English language learners, says it does not use generative AI, even though the city's policy includes a carveout for such tools. HMH, which employs former New York City schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, says none of its flagged products use student-facing AI.

Some companies acted quickly once the announcement was made. All In Learning disabled its AI grading feature within days, and Magma Math turned off its AI-generated hints on September 4, receiving clearance from the Education Department on October 5. Education technology critic Leonie Haimson urged caution, saying neither the companies nor the DOE should be trusted to evaluate these products without a more thorough and transparent process.