Google is putting school district leaders in a difficult spot, especially those that are putting the brakes on the use of AI in education.
They will soon have to decide if it is OK to continue to give students access to Google Search even though it will still feature AI content.
The company said today it will switch off its Gemini chatbot tool and Google Search for K-12 student accounts unless a school district administrator chooses to turn either one or both of them on. Traditional Google searches with no AI summaries will not be an option. That means students in school districts with strict bans on AI use will not be able to use the Search function.
“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,” Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, said during a Nov. 2 virtual meeting to discuss the changes. “Search and AI are deeply integrated.”
In a statement released Nov. 3, Google said it is updating its Search function for schools to “make it better for learning.” To prevent students from using AI to get quick and easy answers to school assignments, AI Mode and AI Overviews will offer “step-by-step guided learning through problems” rather than just spitting out answers, the company said.
The changes will give districts the control that some critics and educators have sought. But they also hand school and district administrators a hard assignment in the middle of the school year: decide which tools each age group of students gets, and rework lessons if Search is not an option.
In August, Google opened a tab for Gemini, its AI chatbot, in Google Classroom to students of all ages in districts that already allowed its AI tools, catching many schools flat-footed about how to handle that access.
Since then, New York City banned student-facing AI through 8th grade, and Los Angeles Unified imposed a one-year moratorium on generative AI on its devices. Both districts use Google products and services.
U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., gave Google until Nov. 2 to answer nine questions, including why AI became the default on school devices.
Google said in the Nov. 3 statement that the company was responding to the needs of schools, which “have told us they want control.” The statement did not mention the senators’ letter or address the nine questions.
“Google is once again prioritizing profits over people,” Blumenthal said in an email statement to Education Week, “this time blocking schools from using Google Search unless they opt into their AI overview.”
District administrators will have to decide what age groups get access to Google tools
School district administrators will get “two levels of control,” Phillips said. They can stick with the default in which Search and Gemini are turned off or they can turn either one or both of them on and allow students to use the Guided Learning mode, an AI-driven learning coach that guides students through academic assignments.
Settings can differ by grade. A district could prohibit the use of AI from one group, limit another to Guided Learning, and give older students “the full-fledged search experience” with the typical AI summaries, said Brittany Siegal Mennuti, Google’s product lead for Classroom. But any group that is prohibited from using AI would also lose Search.
Phillips said the changes will start early next year.
Students could lose meaningful learning experiences
Yvette Renteria, chief program officer at Common Sense Media and a former teacher, principal, and district administrator, sees potential downsides to these changes. Students need practice finding and vetting sources, she said, and “you’re eliminating that entire opportunity to embrace critical thinking in the classroom when you’re getting rid of Google Search.”
Leaving Search on carries its own risk. In July, Common Sense reported that Google’s AI Mode, a chatbot-style search feature, produced full answers to all 180 homework assignments its testers tried.
Google countered that the AI-driven Guided Learning mode in Google Classroom that will be a part of Search will address those concerns. It will pilot that version in select schools this month.
But Renteria said “it’s really too soon to be able to launch something like this tool without really vetting it thoroughly.”
Technological workarounds exist, but may require outside vendors. For instance, Securly, a company offering internet filter and other safety services, offers a feature to block AI content in Google searches.
And Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools is testing its own Google Chrome extension that hides AI Overviews, the summaries atop search results, according to media reports.
But some smaller districts “may not have the personnel” to do the same, Renteria said, and “you start creating and building these inequities within school districts.”
Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan wrote on X that Google “is using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on X: “No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children.”
On X, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called it “extortion.”
Eric Gibbs, vice president of education at AI-detection company Copyleaks, said: “Imagine the lunch lady telling students they can’t eat unless they take everything on the menu.”
Expert says the best option for schools is no longer an option
Phillips, the general manager of education at Google, said its goal is to “provide school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit.” Guided Learning began rolling out in Google Classroom today for schools that already enabled Gemini. Teachers can tie Guided Learning to class materials and read transcripts of students interactions with the chatbot.
Renteria said her team has not tried Guided Learning in Google Classroom.
She did concede that the new default of having everything initially turned off “partly fixes” the problem of tools arriving switched on.
Google, for its part, said it wants to give schools “more choice, more controls and improved Search for learning.” Its statement did not say why the company can’t keep Search without AI, or whether that option is coming.
Renteria said her advice to a superintendent would vary by grade.
“Having Google Search without AI search is the best option,” she said. “And it’s unfortunately an option that Google is not providing to schools or districts.”
