Legal Defense Fund Warns New York City Council of Discriminatory Uses of Technology and Artificial Intelligence

On June 26, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) submitted written testimony for the New York City Council Committees on Education and Technology's joint oversight hearing on Artificial Intelligence, Student Data, and Privacy in NYC Public Schools. LDF alerted the Council Committees that it remains deeply concerned about the potential discriminatory uses of technology and artificial intelligence for the nearly one million students served by New York City Public Schools.

LDF urged the New York City Council and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to reject the continued expansion of school surveillance and perimeter policing, which has repeatedly proven to deepen the criminalization and harm for Black, brown, immigrant, and other vulnerable young people without meaningfully improving their safety. Furthermore, it urged them instead to advance a rights-based vision of student safety that is grounded in privacy, dignity, and restorative justice, with respect for the constitutional protections for all young people.

Read the full written testimony here.