Students using Google software in the classroom will not be allowed to access the company's search engine unless their school system also opts in to artificial intelligence tools, the tech giant said on Tuesday. The organisation also announced a series of new AI products for classrooms and schools as well as more ways for teachers and schools to limit or restrict use of those AI tools.
As per reports, the company said that practice would no longer be the default option for school administrators and that opting out of AI tools would also mean losing access to Google search.
"After listening to schools, teachers, leading researchers, and policymakers, we are now updating our approach to controls for Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search," Chris Phillips, Google's vice president and general manager of education, said in a blogpost.
"Access to these products will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on," he added.
According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), the company has been facing pushback from educators, child development experts, and parents over the use of its technology in schools, with the backlash heating up since it announced in August that it had turned on its Gemini chatbot for many K-12 students who use Google Classroom.
Phillips noted that the company will share more specifics with schools in the coming months. "Our goal is simple: provide school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit," he said.
In a comment to the New York Times, Chris Phillips said that there is no Google Search without AI. "Search and AI are deeply integrated," said Phillips. A school-wide ban on AI would mean that students "will not have access to search, and they will see a message from their school that indicates it's not available", he told the Times.
The Guardian in a report highlighted that the New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who recently imposed a one-year moratorium on generative AI tools in city schools through the eighth grade, said that Google was exploiting its near-total control of online search.
Josh Golin, executive director of children's advocacy group Fairplay, told AP Newsroom that Google's attempt to "strong-arm schools into using its AI products is likely to backfire." He said Google's technology in schools is not about learning but about "developing lifetime brand loyalty" for its products.
"Because AI is not 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.
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