← Back to feed

Google said on Tuesday that AI products will be “entirely off” for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on. The list covers Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search. The catch is the last item: schools that restrict AI altogether will also lose Search for students.

Chris Phillips, Google’s VP and general manager for education, told The New York Times that “Search and AI are deeply integrated,” and that students at schools that ban AI “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.” Search now ships with AI features as a standard part of the product, which is the reason Google gives for not offering a clean opt-out.

What Changes

• Default flips to off. The new controls roll out in early 2027. Google says it will share specifics with schools “in the coming months.”
• August default reversed. In August, Google turned AI features on by default inside Classroom for K-12 schools that had already allowed student access to Gemini. School leaders objected. That change is now being walked back.
• Per-product toggles. Google told Engadget that administrators can enable each product individually, so it is not strictly all-or-nothing. The Search carve-out is the exception.
• Two Search modes for schools that opt in. Beginning in early 2027, school-issued accounts can run Search with AI Overviews and AI chat on, similar to the consumer experience, or Search with Guided Learning, the student version of Gemini’s tutoring mode.

Guided Learning Moves Into Search

Guided Learning coaches students through a problem with open-ended questions and step-by-step breakdowns rather than a final answer. Google is bringing it to two new surfaces:

• Classroom: available globally from Tuesday. Students start it from a teacher-assigned activity, and teachers get real-time insight into where a class is struggling.
• Search: a pilot in select US schools later this month, with wider rollout “in the coming months.” When Google’s systems detect a student looking for homework help, Search will walk through the problem instead of answering it. In the school version, teachers can read transcripts of chatbot interactions on student accounts.

The NYT tested the consumer version of Guided Learning and got a detailed essay back in response to an Advanced Placement history prompt, so the cheating concern is not settled.

Why Schools Are Squeezed

Classroom is used by more than 150 million teachers and students globally, and Chromebooks dominate many US districts. A district that wants to keep students off AI Overviews has to either give up Google Search or find another search engine on managed devices.

The timing overlaps with a tightening regulatory picture. In September, New York City placed a one-year moratorium on generative AI tools in public schools for students through eighth grade, and Los Angeles enacted a similar ban the same month. Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law barring AI companies from offering certain chatbot features to minors. Last month, lawmakers pressed Google on the “potential harms” of putting its AI products in schools.

The practical effect is that Google has handed administrators a control while pricing the most restrictive setting at the loss of the web’s main entry point.