Google is pressing US schools to accept its Gemini AI tool with search access switched on, and the company says schools that want to turn the AI off must also disable search. Critics argue that this approach uses the company's dominance in internet search to push a new product into classrooms, and that schools should not be forced to take that bundle.
According to the reporting, Google's Chris Phillips describes search and AI as deeply integrated, a view that reflects how the company has built AI into its core product over the past decade. Machine learning has been part of Google search since the RankBrain system began in 2015, and the company launched AI Overviews, which generate written summaries at the top of results, in 2024. Those summaries can be switched off through a URL short code, but schools that want the AI gone cannot separate it from search itself. Google says Gemini and search are now off by default for schools, a change the company presents as a protection for students.
The pressure has drawn sharp criticism. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has accused Google of using monopoly leverage, and the complaint carries weight because the company holds about 90 per cent of the search market. A US court has ruled that Google illegally maintained a search monopoly, and the company is appealing that decision. Critics point to an earlier precedent, when Microsoft was forced to offer rival browsers after the Internet Explorer case, as a sign that courts have previously required dominant firms to unbundle products.
The question of whether AI tools help students learn is also unsettled. A study of 10,000 adults found that understanding built from large language model summaries tended to be shallower. A separate study in China, covering 26,000 students, found that AI boosted homework completion but lowered exam scores. Google's own Guided Learning product has reported gains in a trial in Sierra Leone. Schools are still working out how homework should be handled in the AI era, and that debate is likely to shape how they respond to the company's offer.
Credit. Based on reporting by Jacob Aron for New Scientist. Is this your work? Write to us.
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