Google said on 3 November that schools can turn search back on after it is switched off by default, alongside its Gemini chatbot and Gemini Notebook. The statement followed criticism of a policy under which schools rejecting AI entirely would lose search access, CNBC reported. Google says administrators can choose which of the three services to enable. Its response leaves a consequential distinction for schools deciding whether to accept AI: the company described separate switches, while its account of search also places AI features within the service schools would restore.
Key points
- Google says search, Gemini and Gemini Notebook are off by default for schools, which can choose what to switch on.
- The company says AI Mode and AI Overviews in school search will guide students through problems step by step.
- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders accused Google of using search access to press schools to adopt AI.
Google puts the switches with schools
Google’s 3 November statement came after its blog post, “Designing responsible AI for learning”, described bringing AI into Classroom through a product called Guided Learning. The New York Times then reported that schools rejecting AI altogether would have search turned off. An earlier AI Affairs account of Google’s school controls described the same combination: AI tools disabled by default, with an AI ban cutting off search. For a school administrator, the question is therefore about more than whether a chatbot appears in a classroom. It is also about the conditions for restoring a search service.
In its later post on X, Google said “schools are in control” and can turn on its Gemini chatbot, Gemini Notebook and search as they see fit. That is a description of who operates the controls, rather than an express answer to the criticism that search access depends on accepting AI. CNBC reported that the post did not explicitly address that claim. Google also said it was changing search for schools so that AI Mode and AI Overviews would take students through problems step by step instead of supplying quick answers to schoolwork.
Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president for education, told the New York Times that “Search and AI are deeply integrated”, CNBC reported. His description matters alongside the company’s offer of separate switches. A school may be able to enable search without separately enabling Gemini or Gemini Notebook, according to Google’s post. The company’s own description of school search, however, includes AI Mode and AI Overviews. The distinction between choosing a standalone AI tool and choosing a search service with AI features is the practical issue facing administrators who object to AI in schoolwork.
Mamdani and Sanders dispute Google’s terms
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on X that “Google is trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools”. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote that “Google is threatening schools” and called the policy “extortion”. These are accusations about the leverage Google holds when a school wants search but rejects AI, rather than descriptions of a legal finding about this school policy. Google’s later statement presented administrators as the decision-makers over which services are enabled.
Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan made the broader competition argument. On X, she said the policy illustrated “the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service”. Google has lost antitrust cases concerning its search and advertising businesses. Those cases form part of the setting for the criticism, but the immediate choice described in Google’s post rests with schools: whether to switch search on under the company’s school settings. Google’s spokesperson directed CNBC to that post when the publication asked for comment.
AI Overviews enter the school dispute
Google introduced AI Overviews as a search function in May 2024. The feature now sits inside a dispute about what schools accept when they restore search, rather than only a dispute about whether they make a separate AI product available. Google says its school version will guide students through a problem instead of giving them a quick answer. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that assesses technology used by children, gave Google’s AI Overviews an “unacceptable risk” rating. The rating and Google’s account of the planned learning experience are different parties’ assessments of the same feature.
The objections also extend beyond the officials who responded on 3 November. US Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley launched an inquiry in October into Google’s push to bring AI into classrooms. Their inquiry concerns the company’s wider approach to schools, while the dispute over search turns on a narrower administrative decision: Google says schools can choose to enable search, and says the search experience it is updating for them includes AI Mode and AI Overviews.
