Norway Imposes Near Ban On Artificial Intelligence In Elementary Schools

I could not agree with this more

Jul 26, 2026

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Some of you have heard me say this before, and a lot of you will hear me say this again — I am deathly afraid of what the future of world looks like, if we don’t seriously tighten restraints on artificial intelligence.

As a child, I grew up watching movies like the Terminator & the Matrix, so yes, I’m aware that there’s a bit of bias baked into my feelings on AI, but that doesn’t downplay the dangers.

Oh and before we move on, I also saw this on Threads yesterday:

Besides the obvious doomsday scenarios, rampant job loss it’s creating, the noise pollution of data centers, and the water crisis it’s worsening…it also has a profound impact on the way our brains are wired.

Passive reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) reduces brain activity, critical thinking, and memory recall.

Neuroscientists refer to the negative shift as "cognitive offloading," where outsourcing mental effort to large language models (LLMs) essentially bypasses the brain's prefrontal cortex. This is the mental equivalent of using a robot to lift weights at the gym—you get the final product (the lifted barbell), but your muscles receive zero workout.

For children and adolescents, the stakes are significantly higher because their brains are actively building neural frameworks, meaning AI over-reliance can stop key cognitive skills from developing in the first place.

Which brings us to our story for today, where the country of Norway has decided that they wanted to mostly ban the use of AI in their schools.

Norway will impose a near ban on generative AI tools for elementary school pupils and restrict their use for older students beginning in late August. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said the rules are meant to protect core learning as test scores decline.⁠
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“The most important thing in school is that our children learn to read, write and do mathematics,” Stoere said at a press conference Friday. Students ages 6 to 13 generally will not use AI, while ages 14 to 16 may use the tools under teacher supervision.⁠
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Older students, ages 17 to 19, will be taught how to use AI for further education and work. The policy follows Norway’s school smartphone ban, new discipline rules for teachers and plans to fund more classroom books after years of computer and tablet use.⁠

Personally, I could not agree more with a smartphone & AI ban in schools, but I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Please tell me in the comments what you think of this ban? Do you agree or disagree with it?

Additional stories I wanted to share:

Donald Trump is weighing military strikes in the country of Mali
Trump, whose administration labels him “the peace president” with a “peace through strength” platform as he openly seeks international peace prizes, is reportedly mulling whether to take action in Mali while mired in a months-long war with Iran, according to The Washington Post.
If approved, the attacks would add to a growing list of nations and international waterways bombed by the U.S. military since 2025. The president has previously ordered strikes in Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen in addition to killing more than 200 people on alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Mali, one of the largest gold-producing nations in Africa, is among an alliance of military-controlled governments including Burkina Faso and Niger that have largely cut Western ties and turned to Russian forces for security help after recent military coups ousted their democratically elected leaders.
1 in 4 workers stay in unwanted jobs for health coverage, survey finds - A new West Health-Gallup report estimates that 23 million U.S. adults remain in jobs they do not want to keep employer-sponsored health insurance, up from 16% of surveyed workers in 2021 to nearly one-quarter.⁠
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The rate reaches 41% among workers with at least three chronic conditions. KFF found nearly two-thirds of adults worry about affording healthcare, while Gallup reported that only 28% of workers viewed the job market favorably in May.⁠
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Researchers said job lock can limit mobility, entrepreneurship and productivity, with rising costs and the 2025 expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies adding pressure.⁠
Ghost gun company ordered to pay $100 million dollars in the death of a Kentucky teenager, in a historic verdict
A Kentucky jury ordered ghost gun seller Husky Armory LLC to pay $104.2 million after an 18-year-old bought a pistol-building kit online and used the assembled weapon to end his life six days later.⁠
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Henry Willis’ family said the company bypassed federal safeguards requiring background checks and age verification. The award includes $4.2 million in economic damages and $100 million in punitive damages, which Everytown Law called the largest verdict against a gun seller.⁠
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Willis’ mother, Laura Herp, said, “A child in crisis should never be able to access a deadly weapon.” Husky Armory did not respond to the lawsuit or attend the Louisville trial.⁠ Reported by Ground News
Donald Trump has cancelled plans to sharply escalate the Epstein war in Iran - This comes over concerns that Iranian attacks could dangerously drain the Pentagon's already diminished stockpile of Patriot antimissile interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East close to zero, per NYT.

The Pentagon has used more than 1,200 Patriot interceptors in the war at more than $4M each, with cheap Iranian drones and ballistic missiles depleting the US inventory. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine privately cautioned that resuming major combat operations would fully deplete interceptors available to US Central Command.

A senior US official adds that continued strikes have had "the opposite effect of what is intended, keeping Iran cohesive and allowing Iranian leaders to focus attention on an external threat."
Support for Iran war among MAGA Trump voters falls from 50% to 37%
Support for the Iran war among President Donald Trump’s self-identified MAGA voters has fallen as its economic costs grow, according to a Politico Poll. Thirty-seven percent of that group now say the conflict is worth higher prices, down 13 points since May.⁠
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Another 37 percent of MAGA Trump voters support continued U.S. involvement only if costs do not rise, while nearly one in five want the war ended regardless of expense. Among non-MAGA Trump voters, 21 percent say the war is worth higher costs and 28 percent want it ended regardless of cost.⁠
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The poll comes after two U.S. servicemembers were killed in Jordan and gas prices rose above $4 per gallon.⁠