Google Responds to Political Criticism Over Disabling Search in Schools That Ban AI
Google stated that the new rules give schools a choice: search and AI tools are disabled by default, and educational institutions can enable them themselves.
Google faced criticism following the announcement of new rules for accessing search and AI tools in schools. The reason was a report by The New York Times: educational institutions that completely reject artificial intelligence will deprive student accounts of access to Google Search as well.
The company explained that Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and search will be disabled by default. School administrators will be able to independently enable one, several, or all services.
However, the option to separately permit search does not mean it will function without AI. Google’s Vice President for Education, Chris Phillips, told The New York Times that search and artificial intelligence are deeply integrated.
Thus, a school may opt out of the separate Gemini chatbot while retaining search, but this choice does not ensure the complete exclusion of AI from Google Search.
Senator Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticized the company’s approach. In their view, Google is leveraging the importance of its search engine to push schools toward adopting AI. Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan also linked the situation to the risks of dependency on a dominant digital service provider.
Google asserts that the changes give schools more control. Simultaneously, the company is introducing Guided Learning in Classroom and search. In AI Mode and AI Overviews, educational tasks are intended to be broken down step-by-step, helping students arrive at a solution instead of immediately providing a ready-made answer.
The debate concerns school student accounts and settings within Google’s educational infrastructure. The announcement does not imply a general shutdown of the search engine for all users within a school’s premises.
