Google will let schools turn off its AI, but students lose Google Search too

The skim

• Google will switch off Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search for K-12 student accounts until a school administrator turns them on. Education Week reports the change starts early next year.
• Schools can turn Search back on without Gemini, but there's no AI-free version. Search for students will still include AI Overviews and AI Mode.
• That means a district that wants no AI at all loses Google Search for students. Google calls it "more choice, not less." Teachers' unions and advocacy groups call it pressure to adopt AI.

What happened

In a Nov. 3 blog post, Chris Phillips, Google's vice president and general manager of education, wrote that access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search "will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on." Until now, Google's AI tools were switched on by default for schools using Google Classroom, NBC News reports.

The catch is Search. At a Nov. 2 virtual meeting, Phillips said: "If a school is not comfortable with that and simply wants AI off, then they have the choice to not have Search on at all. Search and AI are deeply integrated," Education Week reports. After pushback, Google said schools can turn on Search by itself without the Gemini apps. But Search will still carry AI features, which Google says will offer "step-by-step guided learning through problems, so that students don't get quick answers to schoolwork."

How the controls will work

• Everything off (the new default): no Gemini apps and no Google Search for students.
• Search on, Gemini off: students get Search with Guided Learning-style AI answers.
• Both on: the full Gemini and Search experience.

Settings can vary by grade. A district could block AI for younger students and give high schoolers "the full-fledged search experience," Google Classroom product lead Brittany Siegal Mennuti told Education Week. Any group with AI blocked also loses Search. Guided Learning is available in Classroom starting now. The Guided Learning version of Search starts as a pilot in select U.S. schools later this month.

The reaction

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten told NBC News: "It is unfortunate that Google has prioritized its business interests over the education of our children." Josh Golin of the advocacy group Fairplay said Google is trying "to strong-arm schools into using its AI products." Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) had given Google until Nov. 2 to answer questions, including why AI was on by default on school devices. Google's statement didn't address that letter, Education Week reports. Google says schools "have told us they want control."

Why it matters

Google runs much of the K-12 tech stack. Most Chromebooks are bought by school districts, and a 2023 Schoolytics report found that nearly two-thirds of assignments use a Google product, according to NBC. New York City has banned student-facing AI through 8th grade, and Los Angeles Unified has paused generative AI on its devices. Both now face a choice between AI-enabled Search and no Google Search at all. Workarounds exist, such as filters that hide AI Overviews, but smaller districts may not have the staff to set them up, Common Sense Media's Yvette Renteria told Education Week.

What's next

Google says it will give schools specifics "in the coming months" before the change rolls out. Parents should expect their district to decide, possibly grade by grade, whether students keep Google Search with AI or lose it.

Sources: Google, NBC News, Education Week and Bloomberg Law.