NEW YORK — Nearly 100 students at LaGuardia High School, the Manhattan arts school that inspired the movie “Fame,” walked out of class on Tuesday to demand a freeze on artificial intelligence, driven by concerns that the new technology could threaten their future careers.

The walkout was part of a day of anti-AI high school and college protests across the country, including at Fordham University, SUNY Purchase and Stony Brook in New York. LaGuardia students left the Upper West Side building at noon and marched across 65th Street to Lincoln Center, while chanting: “Who’s future? Our future!”

“I think it’s pretty telling that the people who have to protest against AI are the children, the students,” said Mieke Nievergelt, a senior at LaGuardia. “And the adults, the administrators, are the ones who are perpetuating the use of AI in the education system. Because adults don’t understand the effect that AI has on young minds. And the effect that it’s going to have on our future. Adults don’t understand because they had the time to form their minds — without having something to do it for them.”

“It’s important that we are here — LaGuardia arts students,” she added. “If you want to make art, it doesn’t have to be good. It just has to be yours.”

In New York City, Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Kamar Samuels recently implemented a one-year pause on generative AI through eighth grade.

At the high school level, though, some AI-use is permitted with restrictions. Principals can apply to participate in one of five pre-approved AI pilot programs, or offer it as part of career training. All high schoolers are required to complete AI literacy training, with additional hours required for students enrolled in the pilots.

Samuels has defended the different rules for high schoolers: “For our high schoolers, our responsibility is different. It is increasingly part of the world and workforce they are about to enter,” he said when he announced the guidance last month.

Spokespeople for the public schools where students walked out did not immediately return a request for comment.

The policy marked a reversal for the city’s public school system, which has struggled to keep pace with the rapidly changing technology. When ChatGPT was first introduced, education officials reflexively banned the AI chatbot, based on its potential misuse for cheating and plagiarism.

A systemwide AI policy was put off for years until March, when Samuels released a first draft of the guidance for teachers and school leaders, but that largely sidestepped harder decisions around student AI use and protecting their critical thinking skills. That plan was revised into the policy that exists today.

“Banning AI from pre-K to 8 is amazing. I’m really supportive of that and thankful for that. I have two younger siblings in the school system now who don’t have access to AI anymore,” said Tobin Sorbello, a sophomore at LaGuardia. “But high school students are telling me, ‘I love AI, and I use it for educational purposes.’ And they just aren’t learning.”

Sorbello aspires to be a professional film scorer, but worries about his job prospects in the AI era: “Directors and music producers for TV shows and movies can just go to AI now.”

Students say AI is already creeping into the classroom at LaGuardia.

The school recently participated in a national campaign focused on student belonging and social connections, but the free resources included AI-generated music that “really upset a lot of students,” Sorbello said. Some teens accused the LaGuardia Parents Association of replacing their original art with AI-generated posters, including for Rising Stars, the annual talent show and fundraiser.

“How many of us have been replaced by AI because of the Parents Association using AI posters for events?” said V.V., a LaGuardia senior and a singer-songwriter who makes original music and lyrics. “They’re using Canva AI and ChatGPT to create their posters, when we have students dedicated to that.”

But LaGuardia students say AI-generated art could never replicate their creativity.

“I poured my heart and soul into a story six months ago, and I got it published. I got it published, along with a bunch of other kids in school who got theirs published as well. And you know when you read those stories, that they are a reflection of them,” said Alexandre Rollin-Dijkhuis, a LaGuardia sophomore in the school writing club.

“Everybody has a story. Do not let generative AI write yours.”

The protesters planned to meet outside OpenAI’s New York office in SoHo on Tuesday night.

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