The ASEAN Foundation is expanding AI Ready ASEAN into a broader regional effort that aims to train more than 1.7 million students, teachers and university staff by 2028. Backed by AVPN, Google.org and the Asian Development Bank, the new phase moves from awareness-building to hands-on learning, responsible adoption and localised curricula. The initiative now sits within the AI Opportunity Fund: Asia-Pacific, launched in 2024 with a $35 million budget, which had trained more than 500,000 workers and 50,000 small businesses by the end of June.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Wednesday that public schools will pause generative AI tools for students in grades 2K through 8 during the coming school year, a one-year moratorium covering all student-facing generative AI software and affecting nearly 600,000 students. Companion chatbots are also banned across all grade levels. High school students will receive twice-yearly AI literacy modules, while educators retain permission to use AI for instructional planning and administrative work.
New York City Mayor Mamdani and the Department of Education announced a one-year pause on student-facing generative AI software for kindergarten through grade 8, part of a broader review of how students in the country's largest school system use the technology. The mayor's office called it the most far-reaching ban of its kind in the United States. The city also plans to offer AI literacy lessons twice a year for all public high school students and to launch pilots allowing some high schoolers to try a limited set of AI tools under teacher supervision. "Companion" chatbots will be banned for students of all grades.
New York City's Department of Education announced on Wednesday a one-year moratorium on student use of generative AI in elementary and middle school classrooms, affecting about 600,000 students, roughly two-thirds of the city's public school enrollment. High school students will take two AI literacy courses each year and may use AI modules in specific educational contexts, but not chatbots. The policy also requires generative AI programs to be blocked or deleted from school software and sets daily screen-time limits on personal devices: 30 minutes for grades three through five and 45 minutes for middle school students.
The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education released a new framework calling on university-based teacher education programs to build a comprehensive approach to preparing teachers to understand AI's effects on K-12 education. The framework covers ethics and policy, practice and implementation, cognitive issues, and professional expertise, and suggests aspiring teachers who oppose the technology on ethical grounds should be allowed to avoid using it and still receive teaching credentials. AACTE represents more than 500 public and private college and university programs, which by federal estimates prepare more than 90% of new educators.
Israel's Education Ministry said on August 24 that Program 720, which aims to incorporate artificial intelligence into the education system, will be powered by Microsoft, Google, Amazon and other AI companies, which must comply with the highest security and privacy regulations. The program ran a pilot in 28 schools in the 2025 school year and will expand to 180 schools in the next phase, with 300 more interested in using it. The platform is available in Hebrew and Arabic and covers Arab, Bedouin, Haredi, Religious Zionist and general education schools.
Jiangsu Province launched a project in Nanjing to achieve full coverage of AI literacy education courses in its primary and secondary schools. Starting in the autumn semester this year, all schools in the province will offer AI literacy courses. Summer training for teaching capability recorded 9.03 million views, and course resources are now available for free in the provincial online classroom AI literacy resource zone.
The Economist reported on August 18 a study covering 26,811 middle and high school students in a county in central China, tracked from September 2022 to June 2025. After using AI, average homework scores rose 18% and completion time fell from 64 to 45 minutes, while closed-book monthly exam scores were 20% lower than those of non-AI users, about 1.4 standard deviations. The study also says the outsourcing rate rose from 58% to 81% after five months of use, and the learning penalty narrowed from 25% in early 2023 to 16% in June 2025.
On August 18, the launch ceremony of Jiangsu Province's full-coverage AI literacy education course project for primary and secondary schools was held at the Provincial Education Informatization and Data Management Center, with 94,000 online and offline participants. The provincial education department has ordered full coverage of AI literacy courses in all primary and secondary schools starting this fall semester, and summer training sessions drew 9.03 million views. The provincial center launched a free digital resource zone for AI literacy courses and introduced three support measures for rural schools: on-site training, cloud classrooms and technical specialist assistance.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar announced the AI Akshara Abhiyana and Coding Gurukula programme in his Independence Day speech on Saturday, introducing artificial intelligence education in schools across the state from Class 6. He said his government has already formulated programmes to transform the skills of today's youth and enable them to compete globally. Shivakumar also said the government is working on establishing India's first government-owned AI university in Bengaluru, and stressed the need to improve the quality of schools and colleges.
The National University of Singapore announced on August 11 that from August 2026 all undergraduates must complete compulsory artificial intelligence courses, including a new university-wide module, Applied Generative AI: From Prompting to Evaluation. AI-related courses will be integrated into the common curricula of the College of Humanities and Sciences, College of Design and Engineering, Business School and Healthcare Professional Education, which cover more than 85 per cent of NUS undergraduates. Every major will also add at least one compulsory course examining how AI is reshaping that profession.
