Google announced Tuesday that K-12 schools using its classroom software will lose access to its search engine unless they also agree to enable the company’s Gemini artificial intelligence tools. The move comes after months of pushback from parents, teachers and child development experts over Google’s rollout of AI in classrooms.
The Mountain View, California-based company said it is ending the practice of automatically switching on Gemini for students who use Google Classroom, a default setting it activated in August that sparked widespread backlash. Until August, Gemini had only been available to students 18 and older on Google’s education platform.
Under the new system, schools will be able to toggle individual tools — Gemini, Gemini Notebook and search — on or off, with everything disabled by default until administrators act. But because Google has built AI directly into its search function, any school that opts out of AI entirely will also forfeit access to Google search itself.
“We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach,” said Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, in a company blog post. Google also said it is redesigning its search tools to walk students through problems step by step rather than hand them direct answers.
Google’s reach into American classrooms is difficult to overstate. The company says 150 million students and teachers worldwide use Google Classroom, and Chromebooks remain a staple of school-issued hardware across the country.
Backlash from policymakers and advocates
The announcement drew immediate criticism. Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan wrote on social media that “Google is using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI. This highlights the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service. As the public increasingly pushes back against the use of AI in schools, Google is making clear it will punish those who don’t fall in line.”
New York City and Los Angeles, which run the nation’s two largest school districts, have both imposed temporary bans on generative AI tools in elementary and middle schools while they study safety concerns and draft formal policy.
Josh Golin, executive director of the children’s advocacy group Fairplay, said Google’s strategy is likely to backfire. He argued the push isn’t really about education at all.
“Because AI isn’t safe for kids and undermines education and critical thinking, schools should turn off Google’s AI tools the minute that option becomes available,” Golin said in a statement, adding that the company’s real aim is “developing lifetime brand loyalty” for its products.
Golin went further, urging schools not just to disable AI but to drop Google services altogether and seek out “more privacy-protective alternatives for search, as well as ways to do more substantive research beyond search and click.”
Researchers have separately raised concerns about how heavy reliance on AI tools affects children’s cognitive development, even as many students already turn to AI chatbots to help with assignments — a trend that has also made cheating easier and discouraged independent thinking.
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