AI tools are flooding into classrooms faster than anyone can study their impact. American 15-year-olds just posted their lowest reading scores in 25 years, and math scores are near record lows too, according to a major global exam. Meanwhile, schools across the country continue rolling out AI tools for young students with little research on how those tools affect children's ability to read, think, and learn.
One city is taking a different approach. New York City just placed a one-year pause on student-facing AI tools for nearly 600,000 students in grades K through 8, giving researchers and educators time to actually study the technology's effects before allowing it back into classrooms.
Sign the petition urging the U.S. Department of Education to encourage school districts nationwide to adopt the same approach.
Experts point to rising smartphone use, social media, and AI as key factors behind falling test scores, not just in the United States but in industrialized countries worldwide. Reviews of hundreds of studies have found that the risks of generative AI in classrooms currently outweigh the benefits for young children.
New York City chose caution over convenience. Every child deserves the same protection. Rather than letting every school district experiment blindly with unproven technology on a generation of children already struggling to read and do math, the country needs time to get this right.
A national push toward New York City's model would protect basic literacy and skill-building while researchers determine what role, if any, AI should play in early education. Kids only get one chance to learn to read well.
Sign the petition and demand the Department of Education help keep unproven AI tools out of K-8 classrooms until we know they won't do more harm than good.
