Search off by default, and no Search without the AI in it

On Tuesday morning Google announced that its AI products would be switched off by default for students in schools that use its education software. Until then, its Gemini tools had been on automatically for schools using Google Classroom¹. Chris Phillips, who runs Google’s education business, wrote that Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search “will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on”¹.

The catch was in the last item. Search was on the list. After what NBC News called “significant backlash”, Google clarified later on Tuesday that schools can switch on Search alone, without the other Gemini products¹. But Search itself now carries AI features, such as AI-generated summaries, so a school cannot have Google Search without them¹. Google said the changes “give schools more choice, not less”, and that AI Mode and AI Overviews will walk students through problems step by step rather than hand over answers¹.

Critics were not persuaded. Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers said Google had “prioritized its business interests over the education of our children”¹. Josh Golin of the advocacy group Fairplay said Google was trying “to strong-arm schools into using its AI products”¹. Dozens of outlets covered the announcement within hours, Techmeme’s roundup shows².

Two dull facts matter more than the quotes. First, Google’s reach: most Chromebooks are bought by school districts, and nearly two-thirds of assignments used a Google product, according to a 2023 Schoolytics report cited by NBC¹. Second, the evidence: Stanford’s SCALE Initiative says there are no high-quality causal studies into student use of AI¹. A product used that widely, with that thin a research base, is exactly the kind of decision schools should make slowly, by procurement rule and parent meeting rather than by default setting.

The constructive part is that schools now have a switch, and someone in each district must decide where to put it. That is the institution doing its job. For you, if you have a child at school, the useful question for the next parents’ evening is simple: which of the three positions did our school choose, and why?