250+ experts call for 5-year ban on generative AI in U.S. and Canadian schools, citing brain development risks

Fairplay, a Boston-based child advocacy nonprofit, is leading a coalition of over 250 mental health experts, educators, and parent organizations in calling for a complete moratorium on student-facing generative AI products in pre-K through 12th grade schools in the U.S. and Canada. The coalition is simultaneously rallying at New York City Hall to push for a two-year ban in the city's public schools. The report warns that any AI product failing safety testing during the pause should be permanently banned.

The experts' core concern: generative AI doesn't just distract students—it prevents skill-building during critical brain development years. The human prefrontal cortex (responsible for planning, reasoning, and critical thinking) isn't fully formed until the mid-20s. Research from MIT and Harvard shows AI use creates "cognitive debt" that impairs independent thinking over time, while OECD studies found students using ChatGPT as a study tool actually performed worse on tests than peers without access.

For parents and educators, this matters because AI products in schools face no licensing requirements or ethics codes—unlike teachers, therapists, and counselors who must be certified. Meanwhile, under-resourced schools are more likely to substitute AI for human teachers while wealthy schools retain them, potentially widening educational inequality. Additionally, 60% of teenagers report classmates use chatbots to cheat "very often" or "somewhat often," according to a February 2026 Pew Research survey.

The coalition also exposed a structural contradiction: AI companies like Anthropic prohibit users under 18 in their own terms of service, yet MagicSchool AI—one of the most widely used K–12 AI platforms in the country—is built on Anthropic's models. The five-year pause would create time for independent audits, a public registry of all AI tools currently in schools, and regulatory frameworks that don't yet exist.