Google is taking a hardline stance on the use of its search and AI tools in US schools, essentially saying that you can't have one without the other, which is spurring backlash.
Google has created a number of products specifically for use in schools by both students and teachers, like Google Classroom and Notebook, and as the New York Times notes, the company has become the dominant player in providing software for educators and students — who also heavily rely on Google Search.
In a blog post today, Google announces the incorporation of AI tools in its Guided Learning programs in Classroom, saying, "We believe AI products should support 'productive struggle' — enabling students to be actively challenged without getting so overwhelmed that they give up."
And with this announcement, the company explains that it has updated school-level controls for its suite of products, which includes Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Gemini in Classroom, as well as Google Search. The products will all be turned off, by default, with administrators having to choose to turn them on.
"We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach," the company says. Although there is an all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum built in now, as the Times reports.
School administrators can say no to the AI tools, but that will mean Google Search will be inaccessible at the school as well.
"Search and AI are deeply integrated,” says Chris Phillips, vice president for education at Google, speaking to the Times. So, if a school or district opts to ban all use of AI, they "will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available."
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has already responded, posting a statement to X Tuesday morning in response to the Times report. "Google is trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools. No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children," Mamdani says. "Our public schools exist to serve students, not to grow the profit margins of Big Tech."
And Lina Khan, a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, tells the Times that this moves shows that Google/Alphabet "remains unchastened" after multiple court decisions that have found the company engaging in monopolistic behavior. Khan added, "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."
Today's move follows another in August that had upset school administrators and educators, in which Google's Gemini chatbot was enabled by default in Google Classroom.
The two largest school districts in the country, New York's and Los Angeles', have already enacted broad restrictions on the use of AI by students using school devices. They can't, of course, control what happens on students' cellphones or at home, so perhaps the effort is weak on its face.
With Guided Learning, Google says, teachers will have significant oversight over the students' use of AI, including being able to review their chatbot transcripts afterwards.
While Gemini has infamously had some issues at it got off the ground, Google's AI interface has, in fact, become fairly integral to the search experience in the last year — with AI-generated summaries now the top result for most searches. This controversy feels like one that could feel moot in a short amount of time, because while concerns about students' unguided use of AI tools are real, it's probably not long before chatbots or similar products supplant search engines altogether as the primary way people access information on the internet.
Surveys show that Gen Z is already opting for AI to answer questions, over search, and overall, a growing number of Americans — as many as 40% — say they use chatbots for search queries now, rather than just Google.
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