Days before the school year started, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced new restrictions on student-facing artificial intelligence tools in hundreds of New York City public schools. “We will fully discontinue or disable the AI components of more than 38 previously allowed programs that do not meet our new safety and oversight standards,” the mayor said, though he did not initially share their names.
After more than a month of requests, Chalkbeat obtained the list of flagged products. It includes widely used reading and math curriculums, student assessment tools and a chatbot the Education Department itself developed in partnership with Microsoft that was deployed in six schools last year.
Some products were banned outright, including Amira, an AI-powered reading tutor used in more than 200 schools. Education Department officials said it could not function without AI. The city also discontinued student access to its own chatbot.
But other companies were baffled by their inclusion. Wordly, a translation tool for educators communicating with English language learners, was flagged even though the company says it does not use generative AI, and the city’s policy includes an exemption for tools that help English language learners. “Wordly is working on getting our product off the banned protocol,” a company spokesperson wrote.
Multiple products from HMH, a major provider in the city’s new reading curriculum mandate that employs former New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, also appeared on the list. HMH contends that none of its flagged products use student-facing AI.
Education Department officials said the restrictions apply to student-facing generative AI features, not necessarily entire products, and that they are working with companies on a case-by-case basis to determine whether those features can be disabled. “We will continue to evaluate the evolving AI landscape and take the steps necessary to ensure implementation aligns with our student protections, individual needs, and educational priorities,” Education Department spokesperson Onika Richards said in a statement.
Some companies moved quickly to comply. All In Learning, a Texas-based assessment provider used by more than 100 city schools, said it scrambled to disable AI grading features as soon as it saw the mayor’s announcement. “We turned on a dime,” said Darren Ward, the company’s chief sales and marketing officer, adding that the AI features were not widely used. Magma Math, a digital math instruction platform, turned off its AI-generated hints on Sept. 4 and received Education Department approval to continue operating on Oct. 5. “We continue to value student and teacher interactions above all else,” CEO Henrik Appert said.
The list is not exhaustive. Officials confirmed that other products, including the AI tutoring platform Coursemojo and Google’s Gemini chatbot, are also banned. Education Department officials said Gemini was left out of the list because it was already being deactivated for students.
Some critics cautioned against taking companies’ claims about their AI features at face value. “You cannot trust the companies that they’re not using student-facing AI,” said Leonie Haimson, an education technology critic who has raised concerns about student data protection. “You cannot trust the DOE to independently evaluate and assess these products.”