# Mamdani wants generative AI out of NYC classrooms through eighth grade

> In a WIRED interview, New York's mayor backs a K-8 student ban, rules against AI-faked apartment photos and chatbot loops, and says plainly that he thinks AI is a bubble.

- URL: https://devisdead.ai/news/mamdani-wants-generative-ai-out-of-nyc-classrooms-through-eighth-grade
- Published: 2026-11-03T14:14:30Z
- Author: DevIsDead Newsroom
- Section: Policy
- Tags: new york, education, data centers, regulation
- Originally reported by WIRED (https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani/).

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has spent ten months in office, and AI is now one of the things he's actively regulating. In a long sit-down with [WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani/) editor Katie Drummond for its Uncanny Valley podcast, he went through what the city is doing and what he thinks Washington isn't.

## What the city is actually doing

The biggest item is in schools. Mamdani's administration has proposed an AI moratorium that he describes as broader than any other US school district's: no generative AI for students from 2K, the city's new program for 2-year-olds, through eighth grade. His argument is that kids need room to try, fail and learn, and shouldn't be test subjects for tech companies' products.

Two smaller rules come from the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Realtors may no longer show AI-generated images of apartments, and a second rule limits chatbots that keep New Yorkers stuck in endless loops. He didn't explain how that one works, and the interview doesn't either, so treat the details as still to come.

## Data centers and the bubble

Mamdani supports a one-year statewide halt on building new data centers and describes the national backlash as one of the few truly bipartisan fights, noting he has that in common with Ron DeSantis. His summary of how AI has been governed so far: "our risk, their reward."

His main complaint is opacity. He says the public has too little information on what AI actually costs in energy to judge it, and that companies benefit from presenting the technology as too complicated for anyone but them to oversee. Asked directly, he said he thinks AI is in a bubble, expects it to pop, and doesn't trust the Sam Altmans of the world.

## The reality check

This is one mayor's view, not law, and most of what he describes is either a proposal or a narrow consumer rule. Some of his wider claims about AI's real-world harms came without evidence in the interview, and we're leaving them out here.

Still, it's worth paying attention when the largest US school district moves to keep generative AI away from its students. Edtech vendors selling AI tutors to districts should expect other cities to copy the idea, and companies building data centers should notice that this opposition comes from both parties. Mamdani also said his own family has sent him AI-made videos of himself, thinking they were real. That may be the most persuasive thing he said.

**[Scoreboard](/scoreboard) update:** Humans +1. New York's mayor moves to keep generative AI away from students through eighth grade.

Stay undead.