\n<\/p>\n
Google has said it will switch off its AI tools for schoolchildren by default, after drawing criticism for pushing artificial intelligence features to students while schools are still debating how the technology should be used in classrooms.<\/strong><\/p>\n The search engine juggernaut dominates technology in American schools. Its education apps, including Gmail, Docs and the Classroom platform, are used in classrooms across the country, and its low-cost Chromebook laptops are the devices US schools most often issue to students.<\/p>\n Under the changes Google announced in a blog post on Tuesday, Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Search will be turned off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators switch them on.<\/p>\n Google told AFP the new controls would be rolled out worldwide, beginning in the United States, but that it had not yet set a date.<\/p>\n The changes also mean schools will not be able to give students Google Search without its AI features.<\/p>\n Chris Phillips, Google\u2019s vice president for education, told The New York Times that \u201cSearch and A.I. are deeply integrated,\u201d as AI features are now built into the company\u2019s search engine.<\/p>\n If a school bans AI, he said, students \u201cwill not have access to search, and they\u2019ll see a message from their school that indicates it\u2019s not available.\u201d<\/p>\n New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused Google on X of \u201ctrying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n More than 150 million students worldwide use Google Classroom, according to a letter Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley sent to the company last month asking why AI features had been made the default on school devices.<\/p>\n