Google lets schools switch off AI, but only by losing Search

Google said on Tuesday that access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search will be off by default for K-12 student accounts until administrators turn them on. Wired reported that schools still have no way to keep Search and drop its AI answers.

Four products off until an administrator says yes

In a blog post titled “Designing responsible AI for learning”, Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager for education, said access will be “entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on.” The four products are Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Search. Administrators can enable them one by one.

Google gave no exact date for the switch. It said it will share more specifics with schools “in the coming months” before the changes roll out, and Wired describes the change as starting next year. Phillips framed the goal this way: “provide school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit.”

The post also covers a learning feature. Guided Learning, which walks students through a problem step by step instead of giving the answer, is being built into Search for student accounts. A pilot starts in select US schools later this month, with wider expansion planned for the coming months after educator feedback. Guided Learning is also available in Google Classroom globally, where teachers can assign activities and see where a class needs support.

The catch: Search and its AI answers come as one package

Google’s post does not mention AI Overviews or AI Mode. The tension comes from how the company treats them. According to Wired, Google considers both inseparable from traditional Search, so a school that wants no AI answers has to block Search entirely. TechCrunch quoted Phillips telling The New York Times that “Search and AI are deeply integrated,” and reported that students at such schools would see a message that Search is unavailable.

Wired says Google did not respond to its request for comment, but pointed on X to the “more choice, not less” argument: administrators can enable one, two or all three of Search, Gemini and Gemini Notebook. Administrators who spoke in Google’s support forums, as Wired reports, had asked for a switch that removes only the AI summaries. Wired also cites schools using workarounds such as modified search URLs and browser extensions, including one built by Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, and notes these could break if Google changes how results are delivered.

Open questions on accuracy, evidence and oversight

The dispute turns on whether AI summaries help or hurt young learners, and the evidence cited is mixed and partly from Google itself. Wired reports a Washington University in St. Louis study that found only about 42 percent of AI Overviews could be fully verified from their own citations. It also cites a Google survey in which three in four teenagers said they use AI weekly, while only about half said they double check the output. Google, per Wired, says overviews go through rigorous testing and keep improving, and says its own research shows Guided Learning produces measurable learning gains. Neither claim is independently verified in the sources we read.

Scrutiny is likely to continue. Wired says several lawmakers, including US Senator Bernie Sanders, criticized Google’s stance, and CNBC reported that Google responded to political backlash. Los Angeles Unified told Wired it is still reviewing the implications. Wired adds that parent groups plan to push districts toward alternatives, and DuckDuckGo said it is not planning a dedicated classroom product but hopes to offer resources for educators who switch. DuckDuckGo has previously added an option to filter AI images from its results.

What to watch: the detailed admin controls Google promises before rollout, whether a Search setting that excludes AI Overviews ever appears, and whether the Guided Learning pilot changes how districts judge the trade-off. Wired notes that Alphabet shares fell sharply last week after weaker search ad sales, a point it ties partly to AI Overviews and AI Mode, which carry few ads so far. That gives Google a commercial reason to keep both features inside Search, though neither Google nor Wired states that as its motive.