‘Schools are in control, Gemini, and Search off by default’: Google says amid controversy over Artificial Intelligence

Google will turn off Gemini and other AI features by default for K-12 accounts, leaving schools to enable them. The change follows criticism that Google pressured schools to adopt AI and might restrict search for those that refused.

Tech giant Google has addressed the controversy over allegedly forcing artificial intelligence in schools. Google said Tuesday that it will turn off Gemini, the chatbot that was turned on for many K-12 students using Google Classroom since August, by default.

'Schools should have control over AI'

Access to Google's AI features — Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Gemini in Classroom — as well as Google search will be automatically turned off for K-12 student accounts until “school administrators explicitly turn them on,” Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, said in a blog post.

“We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach,” Phillips wrote.

Democrats accuse Google of threatening schools

The controversy blew up after The New York Times published a report saying that Google will turn off search for schools that reject AI entirely.

Prominent Democrats, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accused Google of threatening schools and abusing its monopoly power to push AI onto students.

“Google is using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI. This highlights the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service,” Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said on social media. “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.”

Will schools lose access to Google Search?

In response, Google said that schools are in control and that they can choose to turn on one, two, or all of the services individually.

Bobins Vayalil Abraham