Google plans to switch off Search and its Gemini AI chatbot on K-12 student accounts until school IT administrators turn them on, and says schools that keep all of Google’s AI off would lose Search.
Chris Phillips, Google’s head of education, announced in a blog post that Google plans to turn off Search and its Gemini AI chatbot on K-12 student accounts. Each would stay off until school IT administrators turned it on. The chatbot includes the version built into Google Classroom, the Google app teachers use to hand out and collect schoolwork.
Phillips told The New York Times that Search and AI are so closely tied that students at a school that keeps all of Google’s AI off “will not have access to search.”
The blog post gave no start date. Gothamist, a nonprofit New York newsroom, reported that Google expects the change to take effect early next year.
Schools won’t get Search without AI answers
Under the plan, schools can keep the Gemini chatbot off, but any school that turns on Search will also get its AI answers. Google said in a post on X that the Search it offers schools includes two AI features:
- AI Overviews, an AI-written answer shown above the regular links.
- AI Mode, a chatbot-style way to search.
Google said in the same post that the change will give schools more choice.
Google switched Gemini on by default in August
The plan reverses the direction Google took three months ago. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that rates media for children, reported in August that Google had switched the Gemini chatbot on by default for many K-12 student accounts. The switch covered schools that already gave students access to Gemini.
NYC asked Google to remove AI Overviews
A city schools spokesperson told Gothamist that New York City asked Google to turn off AI Overviews, which still appeared in students’ search results. The city had already turned off the Gemini chatbot and AI Mode on the Chromebook laptops it gives students. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a one-year ban on most AI programs in city schools in September.
Sanders, Khan, and Mamdani criticized the plan
Three critics attacked the plan in posts on X, the day Google announced it:
- Senator Bernie Sanders called it “extortion.”
- Former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan said Google was using its search monopoly “to coerce schools into adopting AI.”
- Mamdani said Google was trying to use its monopoly power “to force AI into our public schools.”
Google will brief schools before the rollout
Google said in its blog post that it would give schools details in the coming months, before the change rolls out. New York City school officials said they were reaching out to Google to discuss the plan.
