Google switches off Gemini for K-12 students unless schools opt in

Google just made its classroom AI an opt-in. In a blog post Tuesday, the company said Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Search will stay switched off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators turn them on themselves. Google told AFP the new controls will roll out worldwide, beginning in the United States, though it hasn't locked in a date.

Here's the wrinkle: schools can't give students Google Search without the AI features attached. Chris Phillips, Google's vice president for education, told The New York Times that search and AI are now deeply integrated. If a school bans AI, he said, students will be locked out of search entirely and will see a message from their school saying it's not available.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani wasn't impressed. On X, he accused Google of trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into public schools. No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children, he wrote.

Google fired back on X, saying the changes give schools more choice, not less. The company added that it knows there's concern about students using AI to shortcut schoolwork, and that schools have told it they want control.

The reversal follows a push in the other direction. In August, Google opened its Gemini chatbot in Classroom to students of all ages, serving up starter prompts tied to specific classes and assignments, including study guides, practice quizzes and flashcards. The feature was on by default at schools that had already enabled Gemini.

That default is what got lawmakers' attention. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley sent Google a letter last month asking why AI features were made the standard on school devices, noting that more than 150 million students worldwide use Google Classroom. Google's grip on US education runs deep: Gmail, Docs and Classroom sit in classrooms nationwide, and its cheap Chromebooks are the devices schools most often hand out. New York and Los Angeles both announced plans in September to restrict AI tools on school devices, and a Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson told AFP it is reviewing the announcement and its implications, saying the district believes AI can help teaching when introduced carefully with safeguards that support rather than replace teachers.