Schools: Google ties Search access to the AI choice
· BehindLines newsroom
Google announced on Tuesday, November 3, that K-12 student school accounts, from kindergarten through high school, will need explicit authorization from their school to access several of its services that include artificial intelligence, including Search. According to CNN, a school that refuses these AI tools entirely will also lose access to the search engine for the accounts concerned.
The official blog post, signed by Chris Phillips, vice president and general manager of education at Google, names Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search. Access will be off by default until administrators explicitly turn it on.
At the same time, Google is expanding Guided Learning, its guided learning tool. A pilot in Search will begin in a selection of US schools later in November, before expanding to other districts in the following months.
In Classroom, Guided Learning has been available worldwide since November 3. Google says teachers get real-time insights to spot where the class might need extra support.
The details remain incomplete, however. CNN notes that the post does not explain how the controls will work or what a student will see when trying to search from a school that has banned AI. Google says it will give schools more details before the rollout. The announcement therefore describes an upcoming change to school access, with a timetable still to be specified.
According to CNN, Chris Phillips summed up the rule this way: schools that ban AI will not have access to search. For teachers and families, the practical question is therefore whether AI can be kept out without depriving students of a common search tool, a point Google has not yet detailed.