Florida schools must create AI policies, banned from using ‘AI companions’ - WCTV

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) - Florida school districts are now on notice that they need to implement artificial intelligence policies ahead of next school year.

School districts will be banned from using “AI companions” in the classroom, after the State Board of Education finalized a rule earlier this week.

At a press conference, state officials said those “AI companions” would be outlawed and that school districts had until July 1, 2027 to finalize their own AI policies.

Florida politics:

“We are not going to be displacing a classroom teacher with machines and acting like you can just sit in a classroom and put goggles on their head for eight hours and that somehow that’s going to be a good education,” Governor Ron DeSantis said.

If a parent opts out of using AI tools, the student must be given a substantially similar instructional tool, however the new rule doesn’t just ban AI across the board.

“In this rule, if they do not opt in, it’s incumbent upon the faculty member and the superintendent in the school district to provide something ‘substantively similar’,” Dr. Henry Mack, Florida Secretary of Education said.

Florida officials say they’re among the first states to issue binding law about AI in the classroom, not just a set of optional guidance.

This rule applies to all parts of the school system, from VPK up through college.

Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.