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Google will let schools disable its AI tools, but not without sacrificing Search
· Confirmed
In Short: Google will disable AI tools for K-12 students unless schools opt in, but this move cuts off students from Google Search entirely.
Google Gemini screenshot.
Google announced Tuesday that it will disable AI tools for K-12 students unless schools opt in, a move that will cut off students from Google Search entirely.
The new policy, which takes effect in early 2027, will turn off 'Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search' for K-12 student accounts by default.
However, the move has sparked controversy, with critics arguing that it ties the AI question to Search, a core classroom tool.
Google's Chris Phillips explained that the company's search services and AI technology are now closely connected, meaning schools must choose between AI tools and Search.
Google's new AI push in schools has already faced fierce opposition from educators and parents, who are concerned about the impact on student learning.
Google's decision to disable AI tools by default has drawn criticism from education advocates and public officials.
Google's move comes amid heightened competition in the search market, with reports that Samsung is considering Bing as the default search engine on its devices.
The company's dominance in the search market has been challenged in court, with a federal court ruling in 2024 that Google unlawfully monopolized the U.S. Search market.
School IT administrators face a difficult decision: enable AI tools and risk the unknown, or disable them and lose access to Google Search, a tool integral to many classrooms.
What this adds
Google's decision to tie AI tools to Search access is a significant shift from its previous stance.
Schools with less robust technology departments may struggle to find alternatives to Google Search if they opt out of AI tools.
Background
Google is disabling AI tools for K-12 students unless schools opt in, leaving students without access to Google Search.
What's confirmed
- Beyond this new Guided Learning push, Google also says that it will now turn off “Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search” for K-12 student accounts by default “until school administrators explicitly turn them on.” As The New York Times points out, having those features fully off has a big side effect: it cuts students off from Google Search entirely.
- Yet, speaking to The New York Times, Google further explained that two options will be available to schools in “early 2027,” one that has AI Overviews and other AI features turned on, the other with Guided Learning in their place, leaving schools with no choice other than to accept AI features or give up access to Google Search for their students entirely.
- Google says that this is because Search and AI “are deeply integrated” and confirms that students in schools with AI features turned off (which, to reiterate, is now the default setting) “will not have access to search.” As a reminder, Google Search’s AI features can largely be turned off using a simple modifier.
- Google is today launching new AI settings for schools, but with the big catch that Search is fully disabled if AI features are turned off entirely.
- After consulting educators, researchers, and lawmakers, Google has decided that schools using its education products will be opted out of AI tools by default.
- Google announced on Tuesday that it plans to disable AI tools for K-12 students next year unless school administrators explicitly turn them on.
- Image: Solen Feyissa/Unsplash Google is giving schools more control over AI, but turning off the technology could come with an unexpected consequence: losing access to Google Search.
- Google is preparing to introduce new artificial intelligence (AI) restrictions for K-12 schools, but the changes could leave students without access to Google Search if their schools decide to block AI tools completely.
- He told The New York Times that schools that ban AI "will not have access to search, and they'll see a message from their school that indicates it's not available." Google's announcement has drawn criticism from education advocates and public officials who believe schools should be able to choose which technologies students can use without losing access to basic online services.
- Google will switch off access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on, the company announced in a blog post titled "Designing responsible AI for learning."
- In a blog post today, Google says it is “focused on building technology responsibly to help students thrive” and, as such, will tailor its AI efforts to help students.
- The company announced Tuesday that its AI products will be disabled by default for K-12 student accounts unless administrators explicitly enable them.
What's still developing
- The Alphabet-owned search giant said that after surveying school administrators and teachers, it wants educational institutions to control students' access to various AI capabilities.
- Lina Khan, who served as chair of the Federal Trade Commission from 2021 to 2025, said in a statement posted on X that Google is seeking to exploit its dominance in internet search.
- Last month, Google employees learned that Samsung was weighing making Bing the default search engine on its devices instead of Google’s search engine, prompting a “panic” inside the company. (CNN has not reviewed the material.) In an effort to address the heightened competition, Google is said to be developing a new AI-powered search engine called Project “Magi,” according to the Times.
- Shares of Google-parent Alphabet fell more than 3% in early trading Monday after a report sparked concerns that its core search engine could lose market share to AI-powered rivals, including Microsoft’s Bing.
- In an open letter in early October, 13 leading parent advocacy organizations — including the Digital Childhood Institute and Schools Beyond Screens — called on school districts to turn off access to Gemini and YouTube, which is also owned by Google.
- But Google’s approach raises a difficult question for educators: Can schools keep traditional Search while restricting AI-generated answers?
- Google is completely turning off Search in schools that reject its AI features, the company told The New York Times.
- But that decadeslong relationship between the search giant and education turned into the subject of a furor this week when Google announced that starting in January it plans to block K-12 students from using its search engine unless districts opt into the company’s AI-generated version of it.
- Google will offer schools AI tools that purportedly don’t give away the answers.