Google will let schools turn off AI, but they may also lose Search

By Clare Duffy, CNN

New York (CNN) — Google is rolling out new controls for schools to limit students’ access to the company’s AI tools. But if schools opt out of AI altogether, they’ll also lose access to Google Search.

The policy change could mark a major shift in how students and educators interact with one of the biggest providers of education technology in the world. Google’s Chromebook laptops are used by tens of millions of students, sometimes starting in kindergarten.

The move comes as many communities have pushed for stricter limits on screen time and AI use in schools, amid growing fears that the technology could stunt students’ learning and development or pose safety risks. A number of school districts, including New York City and Los Angeles public schools, banned generative AI tools for many or all students this school year.

Google on Tuesday said its products that use AI, like its Gemini assistant and Google Search, will be off by default for K-12 student accounts, until school administrators “explicitly turn them on.” The change reverses an earlier move by Google in August to turn on Gemini by default in its Google Classrooms app.

But now, if schools want to turn off AI entirely, they’ll also lose access to Google Search.

The company said the changes are in response to calls from educators and policymakers for more control over AI tools.

Chris Phillips, vice president of education at Google, told the New York Times that “search and A.I. are deeply integrated,” and that schools that ban AI “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.”

Google has made AI central to Search in recent years — adding “AI overviews” summarizing answers at the top of many results pages and expanding the size of the search bar to accommodate longer queries.

Google’s Tuesday blog post does not offer specifics on how these controls will work, or what students might see if they tried to access Google Search from a school that has banned AI. Phillips wrote in the post that the company 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.”

In response to questions from CNN about how the new controls would work, Google pointed to a Tuesday afternoon post on X in which the company said the policy change would give schools “more choice, not less.” It added that schools would be able to toggle on Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search individually.

But the post still implies that schools will not be able to use Search without AI features, saying: “AI Mode and AI Overviews will offer step-by-step guided learning through problems, so that students don’t get quick answers to schoolwork.”

The policy change came as part of a larger announcement by Google about a slate of updates to its AI tools for learning, based on the idea that the technology should help students work through problems rather than simply giving them answers. Under this new “guided learning” principle, Google says that when its systems detect, for example, that a student is using Search for homework help, they’ll be prompted to walk through the problem or topic step-by-step rather than receiving a single answer.

It’s an approach also being taken by other AI companies, as they seek to convince educators and parents that their products are valuable learning tools, and that experience with AI in school is essential to success in the workforce later.

OpenAI in August announced “ChatGPT for Teens” which, in addition to safety controls, focuses heavily on learning, allowing parents and teens to turn on “Study Mode” to work through questions. Many tech companies have also provided funding to train teachers in AI.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who announced the New York Public Schools AI ban this year, responded to Google’s policy change by accusing the company of trying to “force” AI into schools.

“No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children,” he said in an X post Tuesday.

The-CNN-Wire
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