Google clarifies schools’ choices on Search and Gemini

Google is revising how its artificial-intelligence policy will apply to K–12 schools using Google apps after criticism from educators and parents. The company says schools will need to opt in to its AI products rather than receive them automatically.

Google includes several services in that AI portfolio, including Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Search. For logged-in student accounts, schools would therefore need to enable Search separately. The clarification follows reports that schools rejecting Google’s AI tools could lose access to Search, an interpretation that prompted concern.

Google now says it will not independently switch off Search for those schools. Instead, each school will decide whether to activate the service according to its own policies on artificial intelligence. The company’s education vice president previously described the policy in an interview, while Google’s subsequent explanation sought to clarify how the new system would operate. The arrangement gives schools a formal choice, although Search remains part of Google’s AI offering.