Schools Will Lose Google Search If They Say No To Google AI
Google is introducing new AI learning tools, tighter controls for schools and fresh research into their effectiveness. Yet one decision about Google Search raises uncomfortable questions about how much choice schools really have.
Amid growing criticism of Google’s AI tools in schools, the company has announced plans to make access to Gemini, NotebookLM and Google Search an explicit choice for schools. Under the new arrangements, these services will be switched off for school-managed K-12 student accounts unless administrators decide to enable them.When I met with Chris Phillips, Google’s Vice President and General Manager of Education, yesterday, my immediate question concerned Google’s AI Overviews, the AI-generated answers that now appear at the top of many Google searches.Educators I have spoken to are increasingly concerned that these summaries present students with confident answers before they have had an opportunity to investigate the information themselves. The friction of finding sources, comparing evidence and reaching conclusions is often where much of the learning happens.I asked Phillips whether Google’s new opt-in system would allow schools to remove AI Overviews while retaining conventional Google Search.The answer was no. Let me explain.Under Google’s proposed changes, expected to begin rolling out in early 2027, schools that do not want students using AI within Search will have to disable Google Search entirely.“Search and AI are deeply integrated,” Phillips explained.So no AI means no Google Search for schools. A school might be comfortable with students searching for information, comparing sources and developing research skills, while having reservations about an AI-generated summary doing some of that thinking for them.Google is telling us that Search and AI can no longer be separated. This is a tension that parents and educators will feel, and it sits at the heart of an otherwise promising set of announcements.Google Wants AI To Help Students ThinkAt the heart of today’s announcements is Google’s Guided Learning AI, which begins rolling out within Google Classroom today, for schools that have already enabled Gemini access.Rather than giving students the answer,...