Google announced it will "entirely" turn off Google Search, along with Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Gemini in Classroom for K-12 schools. "Access to these products will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on," Google wrote.
Google said it is doing this because "schools, teachers, leading researchers, and policymakers" asked them to. Google wrote:
We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach. 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. Access to these products will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on.
Google said it will "share more specifics with schools in the coming months ahead of the changes rolling out so they have time to prepare and enable a smooth transition."
"Our goal is simple: provide school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit," Google added.
Google also released a 29 page PDF on AI in Education.
Google is also releasing "Guided Learning capabilities into Search for student accounts to help them work through problems without skipping straight to answers."
Google explained:
When our systems understand a student is looking for certain types of homework help, Search will walk them through the topic or problem step by step. For example, if a student pastes a complex physics problem or asks for help writing a book report in Search, they’ll see prompts to help them think critically and work through the concepts, without going directly to the answer. We’re starting with a pilot in select U.S. schools later this month to gather and incorporate educator feedback before expanding to other school districts in the coming months.
Here is an image of it in action:
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