Google will let schools turn off AI, but they'll have to give up Search too
- Google will disable Gemini and other AI tools by default for K-12 student accounts starting in 2027.
- Schools can manually enable individual AI services, but disabling AI will also remove access to Google Search.
- Schools that enable AI will get "Guided Learning" tools designed to help students solve problems instead of giving direct answers.
Google has announced a major policy change that will disable access to its AI tools, including Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Gemini Classroom, by default for K-12 student accounts.
Google has been pushing AI tools into pretty much every product it offers for a while now, but there have also been growing concerns about how these tools affect the learning process, especially for younger students.
And now, in a bid to give schools more control over AI use, Google announced on Tuesday that it will disable access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini Classroom, and even Google Search by default for K-12 student accounts (via The New York Times).
School administrators will still have the option to enable these services individually if they want, but they'll remain disabled by default starting in 2027.
The catch, however, is that schools won't be able to completely block Google's AI tools while keeping access to regular Google Search. Google says AI is now so deeply integrated into Search through features like AI Overviews and AI Mode that disabling AI will also mean losing access to Google Search altogether.
Chris Phillips, Google's vice president of education, told The New York Times that Search and AI are now deeply integrated. He added that schools choosing to disable Google's AI features will also lose access to Search, with students instead seeing a message explaining that the service isn't available through their school.
For schools that do decide to enable AI, Google is also introducing a new "Guided Learning" experience within Gemini and Search. Instead of simply giving students direct answers, the feature is designed to walk them through problems step by step, helping them understand how to arrive at the answer rather than just copying it.
Google says the policy change is intended to give schools more choice over which services students can access, allowing administrators to enable or disable tools based on their requirements.
But there's a pretty big contradiction here. On one hand, Google says it's giving schools more control over AI in classrooms. On the other, schools that don't want students using AI Overviews or AI Mode will also have to give up regular Google Search.
So, schools are technically getting more control over Google's AI tools, but only if they're willing to lose access to one of the most widely used search engines in the process. And that seems like a pretty strange way of giving schools more choice.