Photo: Google (illustrative)
Google will require K-12 school administrators to explicitly enable Search and several Gemini products for student accounts, putting access to its search engine behind the same coming school-control changes as its artificial intelligence tools.
In a company announcement Tuesday, education chief Chris Phillips said 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.” The announcement concerns school-managed student accounts, not a shutdown of Search for personal accounts or an immediate nationwide change.
The decision gives administrators an opt-in choice over the services, but does not offer schools a conventional Search option with Google’s AI features entirely switched off, according to The Verge’s report on an interview with The New York Times. Schools that reject the integrated AI experience would also lose student-account access to Search.
“Search and AI are deeply integrated,” Phillips told the Times, as quoted by The Verge. Students at schools that disable those features “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available,” he said.
Control changes are still ahead
Google did not give a fixed rollout date in its announcement. It said it would share more details with schools “in the coming months” before the changes take effect, giving administrators time to prepare. That future controls rollout is separate from new teaching features being introduced this month.
The policy places a practical trade-off in front of school systems weighing AI use: opting out would affect access to a familiar research tool as well as to Google’s chatbot products. Google says the changes respond to feedback from schools, teachers, researchers and policymakers who want more control over classroom technology.
Guided Learning reaches Classroom and Search
Alongside the controls announcement, Google said Guided Learning is available globally in Google Classroom starting Tuesday. Teachers can assign an activity based on class material, with the tool intended to lead students through questions and intermediate steps rather than hand them a final answer.
Google said the Classroom version also gives teachers real-time information about where students may need more support. The company described the approach as supporting “productive struggle”: keeping students engaged in solving a problem without making it so difficult that they give up.
Search has a different timetable. A Guided Learning pilot will begin in selected U.S. schools later in November, with feedback gathered before expansion to other districts in the following months. Google said certain homework queries, such as a physics problem or help with a book report, would prompt step-by-step guidance.
The company says Guided Learning can improve learning, but that is Google’s assessment of its own tools, not a guarantee for every student or classroom. The announcement presents the teaching features and school controls as parts of the same education strategy while leaving administrators to decide whether to enable the services.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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