Over 250 Experts Call for Five-Year Ban on AI in K-12 Schools
A coalition of researchers, doctors, and child development experts is pushing for a five-year moratorium on all student-facing generative AI products in U.S. and Canadian schools. The group, led by Boston-based nonprofit Fairplay, says AI actively interferes with how children's brains develop-and no proven educational benefit exists to justify the risk.
The report, shared exclusively with Fortune before a planned rally at New York City Hall, argues that any AI product failing safety testing during the pause should be permanently banned from schools.
The Brain Development Problem
The human brain doesn't fully mature until the mid-twenties. The prefrontal cortex-responsible for planning, reasoning, emotion regulation, and critical thinking-is among the last regions to develop.
Emily Cherkin, a screen time consultant and professor at the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Policy, explained the core issue: "If they're never building skills, they have none to offload." When children rely on AI to solve problems, they skip the foundational skill-building phase entirely.
Research backs this concern. A joint MIT and Harvard study found that AI use accumulates "cognitive debt," impairing independent thinking over time. OECD research showed students using ChatGPT as a study tool actually performed worse on tests than peers without access-even when the AI was programmed not to give direct answers.
Mental Health and Equity Concerns
Google and Character.AI face lawsuits alleging their chatbots contributed to user suicides and encouraged children to harm family members. The American Psychological Association issued a health advisory on AI and adolescent well-being.
Yet generative AI products face no licensing requirements or ethics codes-standards that apply to teachers, therapists, and counselors working with children. These products have been found to violate ethical standards in providing mental health support.
The equity problem runs deeper. Under-resourced schools are more likely to use AI as a substitute for human teachers, while well-resourced schools retain them. Because AI training datasets contain historical bias, these products are likely to amplify existing educational inequities rather than close them.
A February 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 60% of teenagers say students at their school use chatbots to cheat "very often" or "somewhat often."
The Hypocrisy at the Heart of the Push
AI companies prohibit minors in their own terms of service while simultaneously marketing to schools. Anthropic's terms of use bar users under 18, yet MagicSchool AI-one of the most widely used K-12 platforms in the country-is built on Anthropic's models.
Leonie Haimson, cochair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, said the industry's timeline matters: "We just don't want to waste another 10 years in which our kids' education is undermined. It took more than 10 years to ban cell phones from schools. We can't afford that again."
What the Five-Year Pause Would Accomplish
The coalition proposes using the moratorium to:
- Conduct independent third-party audits of AI platforms
- Establish a vetting process for new products
- Create a public registry of every AI tool currently used in schools
- Develop regulatory frameworks that don't yet exist
Any product failing this process should not be allowed in schools, the coalition argues.
New York's Resistance
In New York City, advocates are pushing for a two-year ban in public schools. Haimson, who sits on the Department of Education's own AI working group, said the new administration has failed to break from the previous one's edtech enthusiasm.
The DOE refused to provide a list of AI products currently in use in city schools, citing vendor nondisclosure agreements. Officials also denied requests for teacher training materials. The AI guidance released in March was reportedly produced by Accenture with no meaningful input from privacy experts or parents.
The New York City Department of Education responded in a statement: "Our initial AI guidance released in March is just the beginning of our work to ensure these tools are used appropriately and safely, with the right guardrails in place to protect students and staff."
What Remains Unknown
There is no proven educational benefit to generative AI in schools. It is marketed purely on "potential," which the report defines as "literally what something is not."
Long-term effects on children's cognitive and social-emotional development remain entirely uncharted. Cherkin said the answer is straightforward: "The best preparation for a digital future is an analog childhood. If we want kids to navigate generative AI someday, we should be doubling down on the skills that help them think critically."
For educators looking to understand these issues more deeply, resources on AI for Education and the AI Learning Path for Teachers provide frameworks for navigating AI's role in schools responsibly.
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