We can’t keep guessing whether AI helps students learn

The nation’s two largest school districts just paused AI for a year—here’s what should happen.

On September 2, as students returned to class, New York City implemented a one-year pause on generative AI use for nearly 600,000 students across pre-K, elementary, and middle school. Los Angeles soon followed, blocking it for every student on a district-issued device. Together, the country’s two largest school systems came to the same conclusion: Better to wait a year than to keep putting untested tools in front of kids.