Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Google is pressuring schools not to ban AI — by rescinding their access to its eponymous search engine if they do.
The decision triggered a firestorm among educators and lawmakers, with senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) accusing the company of “extortion.” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) fumed that Google was “once again prioritizing profits over people,” tweeting that it’s “more concerned with forcing Gemini into schools than enabling students to succeed.”
“No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children,” New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote.
The Google Search of yore is now topped with an AI feature called AI Overviews, which has caused an unprecedented tidal wave of misinformation. Since it comes ahead of actual sources with confident-sounding answers that are often overtly wrong or flawed, the feature has caused grave concern among teachers who fear that it’s undermining students’ educational development.
The fact is that it’s not just schools. Users have been pleading Google for an AI-free search experience, which would be trivially easy for the tech giant to implement, but those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Worse yet, in a Tuesday statement commenting on the NYT’s reporting, Google dug in its heels, claiming it was giving schools “more choice, not less.”
“We are also updating Search for schools to make it better for learning,” Google wrote in its statement. “Specifically, AI Mode and AI Overviews will offer step-by-step guided learning through problems, so that students don’t get quick answers to schoolwork.”
In other words, the tech titan refuses to acknowledge the problem in any meaningful way, actively trying to gaslight educators that it’s taking their concerns seriously.
To be clear, this isn’t “more choice” — it’s refusing to engage with the school system on their request to have an AI-free Google experience in the classroom, a possibility that appears to be off the table.
It’ll be interesting to see how educators will respond to Google’s insistence on AI. The tech giant’s software is deeply engrained in the classroom, from Gmail to Chromebooks, which could make cutting the company’s software out a difficult transition.
Alternatives to its search engine are far and few between. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist at all — and Google’s competitors are jumping at the chance to gain ground.
“There is no technical reason why Google can’t turn AI off,” said Allison Goodman, senior communications manager at search alternative DuckDuckGo. “AI overviews is a search module like maps, flights, or weather. Google can determine when it shows up and when it doesn’t.”
“Unlike Google, AI in DuckDuckGo is optional,” Goodman wrote, clarifying that “schools can make DuckDuckGo their default search engine.”
Mor eon the news: Google Announces It’s Shutting Off Search Engine Access for Schools That Ban AI
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