New York City is about to do something bold: keep artificial intelligence out of the hands of more than half a million students in 2-K through eighth grade for the entire 2026-2027 school year. It's the most sweeping AI moratorium in the country, and it deserves to be protected, not quietly rolled back.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani explained the thinking behind it: "the tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary," he said. "We do not see it that way."

Young children are still learning how to read, write, and reason on their own. Handing them AI chatbots and companion apps before those foundations are set risks letting a machine do the thinking for them. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the district plans to "lead over the next year with evidence and make sure technology serves learning -- not the other way around."

That is the right instinct, but tech companies have far more lobbying power than parents and teachers do. As NYC spends the next year studying this technology's impact, city leaders need to hear that the public wants this pause kept, not weakened once the pressure builds.

This should also come with real support: training and resources for teachers who are now doing without AI shortcuts, and a genuine, evidence-based plan for every grade level, including high schoolers, who currently fall outside the ban entirely.

Sign the petition to tell Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Samuels: stand behind the AI moratorium, back it with real support for teachers, and let evidence, not industry pressure, decide what happens next.