Craig Garrett had no idea his five-year-old daughter was talking to what he described as a AI chatbot in school every day.
That was until the Brooklyn-based book editor attended a meeting held by his school district, where he said teachers revealed the extent of AI use in his daughter’s class.
“I was a little shocked, shocked and disappointed,” Garrett told Business Insider. “The whole idea of a five-year-old kid plugged into a tablet with headphones on and a microphone, talking to an animated character who talks to him like he’s his friend, is just completely wrong.”
That meeting, which took place last May, “radicalized” many parents in the room, Garrett said. It led him to join the AIM Coalition, a group of parents based in New York City against AI in the classroom. AIM stands for AI Moratorium.
Those concerned parents are often the loudest voices in the room, but they are not the only concerned parents, and they are not the only voices. There is a cohort on the other side who believe that students preparing for the job market should do so learned to use AIor else be left behind.
“In the past six months alone, references to having AI skills in job postings in the United States have more than doubled,” Keri Rodrigues, the founder and president of the National Parents Union, which has a chapter in New York City and supports the use of AI in schools, told Business Insider. “Parents want their children to understand how to use this technology.”
These two groups of parents, who represent opposing sides of the debate, have worked for months to lobby the government of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who finally sided with them this week — at least for now. – with the anti-AI contingent.
Mamdani announced on Wednesday that his government would… one year moratorium on student-centered AI platforms in New York City public schools for elementary and middle school students. Under the new restrictions, the AI functions of Amira, the program Garrett’s daughter used, will be disabled.
A spokesperson for New York City Public Schools said in a statement that the school system “collaborated with various stakeholders – teachers, students, parents, advocates, union partners, experts and other community members” to shape the policy.
The AIM coalition had two meetings with NYCPS Chancellor Kamar Samuels in recent months, members said.
Parents in the AIM coalition called the moratorium a victory, although it fell short of their demand for a two-year freeze on the technology. They described feeling blindsided by the magnitude of AI use in the classroom. Some said they feared their children’s data would be scraped by AI companies. Others said they didn’t want chatbots to take the place of teachers.
“It actually started because concerned parents found out things about what their children were experiencing and were completely shocked,” said Liat Olenick, a leader of the group. “It really caught on because I think it struck a chord.”
Olenick recalled several incidents in which parents approached her baffled by the AI programs their children were using. “One day people suddenly said, ‘Wait, my seven-year-old is using AI? I never gave permission for that,'” she said.
Olenick said the group began campaigning for a moratorium earlier this year. She said the group’s lobbying efforts included conversations with staff members in the mayor’s office, as well as meetings with Samuels.
“The organization really made a difference,” she says. “We changed the conversation.”
Members of the AIM Coalition pictured after meeting with New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamal Samuels at the Tweed Courthouse in May. Courtesy/Craig Garrett
Under new AI guidelines unveiled on Wednesday, teachers will still have access to it generative AI toolswhich they can use to plan lessons, but not to grade assignments. High school students will participate in “AI literacy” courses and have limited access to five pilot AI programs, none of which are chatbots.
Joe Philleo, the CEO of Edia, one of the programs authorized for use in high schools, applauded the yearlong pause in a post on “Young children should not be glued to their screens all day.”
Amira’s CEO, meanwhile, defended the software’s role as a tool for teachers.
“We understand how challenging it is for districts to ensure they are putting the right AI safeguards in place, and appreciate that while New York does that hard work, they are also ensuring that teachers who use Amira to diagnose reading difficulties and improve literacy outcomes for children still have access to the tools that work for them,” the company’s CEO Mark Angel said in a statement.
Mamdani described the moratorium as the most “comprehensive of its kind anywhere in the country.” It comes amid a national public deliberation on the best way to expose children to generative AI, as teachers complain about the way students are using the technology to cheating on assignments and parents are demanding more regulation.
Rodrigues, however, called the ban a “hysterical reaction.” That could leave students unprepared for a labor market that values AI skills more than ever.
While Rodrigues said AI has a place in the classroom, especially when combined with strong and consistent supervision by human teachers, she emphasized that there are certain functions – such as assessing, advising and enforcing discipline – where AI does not have a place.
The new policy, she said, uses a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel.
“You’re seeing a knee-jerk political response to something that is complex, requires nuance, requires fundamental understanding, and should be based on evidence and data,” she said.
City officials emphasized during their press conference announcing the moratorium on Wednesday that the pause was temporary as they assess how AI influences a child’s learning ability.
Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, a neuroscientist and associate professor at Rutgers University, and mother of two sons in the New York City public school system, who supports the pause, says research shows that young children who use AI tools are at risk of their brains not developing problem-solving skills.
“We’re not actually allowing the brain to consolidate that information in a comprehensive way,” she said, referring to the use of AI during young people’s formative years.
For Garrett, whose daughter is now entering second grade, he’s relieved the Amira app won’t be used as often.
“It’s not like this app did anything that teachers couldn’t do before,” he said.
