Nearly 500 New York City artists, writers, and actors signed a letter Thursday demanding a two-year moratorium on generative AI in public schools. Addressed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the letter argues that AI tools are built on stolen creative work and pose serious risks to children's development and the city's cultural future.
The campaign was initiated by the AI Moratorium Coalition (AIM), a group that includes visual artists, filmmakers, photographers, comedians, and other creative professionals. The coalition's letter calls on the mayor to "stand up for the children of this city-the natural-born creatives, the innate innovators, tomorrow's leaders-whose future is being sacrificed only to further enrich the planet's wealthiest people."
The letter's core demands
The letter, dated June 25, 2026, opens by describing generative AI as "built on theft, having stolen the work of countless creatives who made New York the world's capital of art and culture." It goes on to accuse the AI industry of invading classrooms to "gather fresh material for its products, harvest data for third parties, and capture an entire generation of dependent customers."
The artists reject the technology's presence in education from pre-K through 12th grade. They argue that no independent study has demonstrated a durable benefit from AI in K-12 classrooms, while numerous studies have documented harms including reduced cognition, diminished mental health, and stunted social-emotional skills.
AI's broader societal harms
The coalition also points to what it calls an "inequity machine." The letter says AI subjects communities of color to surveillance, amplifies racial and gender biases, raises utility bills for struggling families, and worsens pollution, drought, and carbon emissions.
The demand for a moratorium adds a new voice to the ongoing conversation about AI for Education and its place in the classroom. The letter frames the push as a defense of public education and a habitable environment, calling the use of AI in schools a "reckless experiment" designed to confine children and artists "to a permanent underclass."
Why this matters for Creatives
For artists, writers, and performers, the letter is a direct defense of their work and their industry's future. The signatories see the spread of generative AI in schools as a threat to the next generation of creative talent and a continuation of the practice of training AI on copyrighted material without consent.
The letter from the AI Moratorium Coalition highlights the tension between AI tools and the creative community, a topic explored in many AI for Creatives resources. Mobilizing nearly 500 names, the campaign signals a growing willingness among New York's cultural workers to push back against technology they believe undermines their livelihoods and the city's artistic ecosystem.
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