Google tells schools: turn off our AI and you lose search too

Google is giving schools a choice that isn't much of one. Starting in early 2027, student accounts will have Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Google Search switched off by default, and administrators can turn each back on. What they can't get is search without AI, The Decoder reports, following a New York Times scoop.

Chris Phillips, who runs education at Google as a vice president, argued the two can no longer be pulled apart. Schools that switch search on get two versions: the full one with AI Overviews and AI chat, or a "Guided Learning" mode meant to lead students toward answers instead of giving them away.

Why it's happening now

Google recently turned AI features on by default in Classroom for schools with Gemini access, and the backlash made it reverse course. Default-off is the concession. Tying search to AI is the catch.

Google's reach makes this a big deal. It dominates US schools through Chromebooks, Gmail and Classroom. The two largest districts, New York City and Los Angeles, scaled back student AI use in September, and Los Angeles specifically wanted to keep Google Search without AI Overviews. Under this plan, it can't.

Education professor Morgan Polikoff called it a textbook case of tech companies pushing AI on people whether they want it or not. It's hard to argue with the description. It's also consistent with how Google talks about search everywhere else: as AI search, full stop.

What it means

For districts, the decision is now binary. Ban AI and you also ban the most-used research tool on the most-used school laptops, or accept AI on Google's terms and hope Guided Learning behaves. Expect a lot of districts to grumble and pick the second, because almost nobody runs a school without search.

For edtech developers, it's a signal of how platform owners will handle opt-outs: allow them in name, then bundle the AI into something you can't do without. Anyone selling an AI-free alternative now has a clear market, if they can match the basics.

This also lands right as New York's mayor proposes keeping generative AI away from students through eighth grade. If that passes, the city will have to decide whether search counts.

Scoreboard update: AI +1. Google makes AI the price of search in schools, and the opt-out costs more than staying in.

Stay undead.