New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels says the Department of Education is rethinking its approach to artificial intelligence in classrooms after widespread criticism from parents and educators who argued that the city’s draft AI guidelines failed to address the risks posed by the rapidly expanding technology adequately.
Recently, speaking at an evening event hosted by Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan, Samuels acknowledged that education officials had underestimated the level of concern about AI in schools and pledged that the city’s final guidance would adopt a far more cautious approach, particularly for younger students.
“We missed the mark, and we didn’t communicate in a way that really showed our community that we understood where we were … and that we were worthy of being trusted to protect young people,” Samuels said, according to a partial recording shared with Chalkbeat.
The Education Department released its draft AI framework in March, outlining a “traffic light” system intended to classify acceptable and high-risk uses of artificial intelligence in schools, primarily focusing on how educators might use the technology. However, critics argued that the guidance gave insufficient attention to student use of AI, one of the most contentious issues facing school systems nationwide.
The backlash was swift and significant. Parents, teachers, and advocacy groups flooded public meetings with criticism, accusing the department of moving too quickly to embrace AI without fully understanding its implications for privacy, learning, and child development. A petition calling for a two-year moratorium on AI in city schools has since gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
Samuels said public sentiment toward AI shifted dramatically in the months after he became chancellor in January.
“At first, the posture was, ‘AI is here; we need to kind of figure it out,’” he explained. “But what we began hearing was not just fear, it was anger, a lack of trust in institutions, a lack of trust in our security mechanisms, and deep skepticism of education technology companies.”
The chancellor described AI as “the most invasive technology that we’ve seen,” noting that the department is now closely examining whether the technology should be heavily restricted, or potentially barred, for the city’s youngest learners, particularly children between the ages of three and five.
Although officials had initially planned to release final AI guidance in June, the Education Department has not confirmed whether that timeline remains in place.
The city received more than 6,000 public comments during the 45-day feedback period following the release of the draft guidance on March 24. According to Tara Carrozza, the department’s director of digital learning initiatives, nearly half of the responses came from educators, while more than 40 per cent were submitted by parents.
The debate unfolding in New York mirrors a broader national conversation over the role artificial intelligence should play in education. Even some early supporters of classroom AI have begun calling for tighter restrictions. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recently urged schools nationwide to ban student-facing AI tools in elementary schools, despite previously supporting AI systems designed to assist teachers.
Within New York City’s school system, policy on AI has evolved rapidly. The Education Department initially blocked access to ChatGPT on school networks before later positioning itself as a potential national leader in AI integration. In the absence of clear citywide rules, some schools have created their own policies governing AI use, while others have largely avoided the issue altogether.
Supporters of AI argue that the technology can help educators identify struggling students, personalize instruction, and reduce administrative burdens. Former First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg recently suggested that AI could assist teachers in diagnosing academic gaps and designing targeted interventions.
But critics warn that overreliance on artificial intelligence risks weakening the human relationships and instructional expertise that form the foundation of effective teaching.
Shael Polakow-Suransky, former deputy chancellor and current president of Bank Street College of Education, recounted observing a Bronx classroom where students used an AI-powered tutoring system to learn how to convert fractions into decimals. While many students eventually arrived at the correct answers, he said few demonstrated a genuine conceptual understanding of the math itself, as the teacher spent much of the lesson troubleshooting technical issues.
“This was something I fear is going to happen more and more in schools across the country and in our city,” Polakow-Suransky said. “In the interest of providing individualized feedback to students, we are going to take the intellectual work that we expect from teachers and pass it to the AI.”
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