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Google said on November 3 that Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search will be off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators turn them on. Because Google says Search and AI are deeply integrated, schools that want no AI will lose Search for students too, according to The Verge and TechCrunch.
Key facts
- Affected products: Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search, for K-12 student accounts.
- Timing: Google says details will reach schools in the coming months. Android Authority reports the change arrives early next year.
- Guided Learning is now available worldwide in Google Classroom, per Engadget. Testing in Search at select US schools starts this month.
- Teachers can read student chatbot transcripts in the school version of Guided Learning, according to Engadget.
- Students at schools that reject AI will see a message that Search is unavailable.
What Google is changing
Google's education vice president, Chris Phillips, said the company updated its controls after listening to schools, teachers, researchers and policymakers. The change reverses an earlier move: Google had turned certain AI features on by default in Classroom, which drew a backlash from educators, as Engadget reports, citing The New York Times.
The dispute is over whether the controls are all-or-nothing. In a statement published by Android Authority, Google said schools can turn on one, two or all of the services individually, and that the changes give schools "more choice, not less." Engadget says Google told it the same. Ars Technica reads the arrangement differently: because AI is built into Search, a school can allow Search only by accepting AI.
Guided Learning is Google's answer to concerns about shortcuts. It walks students through a problem step by step instead of giving the answer. In Search, a student who pastes in a physics problem would see prompts to work it out, The Next Web reports. Ars Technica notes that Google warns its generative AI products can make mistakes, so students may still coax answers out of them.
Why it matters
Chromebooks and Google's education apps are widely used in schools, which gives Google leverage. Ars Technica says Google could build a Search version for schools without AI but is not doing so. It suggests schools unhappy with the terms could switch to alternatives such as DuckDuckGo, which lets users disable AI features.
Political pushback came quickly. The Verge reports that Sen. Bernie Sanders called the move "extortion," and that California's Secretary of Business & Consumer Services, Rohit Chopra, said Big Tech shouldn't be able to "strong-arm schools." NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said no corporation should dictate how children are taught.
The backdrop is a wave of restrictions. Engadget reports that New York City placed a one-year moratorium on student use of generative AI through eighth grade in September, and Los Angeles enacted a similar ban that month. The Next Web adds that Common Sense Media called Google's AI Search an "unacceptable risk" to students in July.
What to watch next
- The specifics Google promises schools in the coming months, including exactly how individual toggles for Search and its AI features will work.
- Results from the Guided Learning test in Search at US schools.
- Whether districts that restrict AI accept losing Search, move to other search engines, or press regulators and lawmakers to intervene.
