Google said on Tuesday that it will disable artificial intelligence in its educational apps for K-12 student accounts unless school administrators specifically enable it.
The Alphabet-owned search giant said that after surveying school administrators and teachers, it wants educational institutions to control students’ access to various AI capabilities.
Access to Google’s AI features — Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Gemini in the Classroom — as well as Google Search will be automatically disabled for K-12 student accounts until “school administrators explicitly disable them,” said Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, in a blog post.
Schools that ban AI “don’t have access to search, and they’re going to see a message from their school indicating that it’s not available,” Phillips told the New York Times.
While Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search are turned off by default, schools can choose to turn on one, two or all three services, Google explained in a post on X Tuesday.
“We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and provide administrators with controls to help them manage their approach,” Phillips wrote in the post.
New politics calls for outcry
Google’s new policy immediately prompted criticism that it was trying to pressure schools into using its AI apps. In a statement posted on social media, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused the tech giant of “trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools.”
“No society should have the power to dictate how we teach our children. Our public schools exist to serve students, not to grow the profit margins of Big Tech,” he added.
A Google spokesperson declined to respond to Mamdani’s comments.
About 150 million students and teachers use Google Classroom, and many students use school-provided Chromebooks, according to Google. Google made a splash in August when it activated its Gemini chatbot for many K-12 students. Until August, Google only allowed Gemini to be activated for students 18 or older.
In September, New York City schools said AI would be banned until students reach high school and implemented a one-year delay on the use of generative AI for children in 2-K through eighth grade.
Lina Khan, who served as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission from 2021 to 2025, said in a statement posted on X that Google is trying to exploit its dominance in Internet search.
“This highlights the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service,” said Khan, who now chairs the board of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit group that promotes economic growth and investment in New York.
“Multiple courts have found Google liable for violating antitrust laws, and this latest move shows it remains unmoved,” she added. “As the public pushes back against the use of AI in schools, Google is making it clear that it will punish those who don’t fall in line.”
Josh Golin, executive director of the children’s advocacy group Fairplay, said Google’s attempt to “strong-arm schools into using its AI products is likely to backfire.” He said that Google’s technology in schools is not about learning, but about “developing lifelong brand loyalty” for its products.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, accused Google of putting its business interests ahead of education. “Instead of working with teachers and parents to maintain privacy and ensure their tools are safe and useful, it’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater and banning access to the tools altogether,” she said in a statement.