Google is today launching new AI settings for schools, but with the big catch that Search is fully disabled if AI features are turned off entirely.
In a blog post today, Google says it is “focused on building technology responsibly to help students thrive” and, as such, will tailor its AI efforts to help students. “Guided Learning” in Gemini, Search, and Classroom will include helping students “work through problems without skipping straight to answers.”
…if a student pastes a complex physics problem or asks for help writing a book report in Search, they’ll see prompts to help them think critically and work through the concepts, without going directly to the answer.
That’s launching in a pilot program this month in select US schools, with Guided Learning in Google Classroom launching globally today. Google describes this as a “1-1 study tool, anchored in class material to help [students] stay on task” while also giving the teacher insights into how their class is handling the material.
Beyond this new Guided Learning push, Google also says that it will now turn off “Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search” for K-12 student accounts by default “until school administrators explicitly turn them on.”
As The New York Times points out, having those features fully off has a big side effect: it cuts students off from Google Search entirely.
Google says that this is because Search and AI “are deeply integrated” and confirms that students in schools with AI features turned off (which, to reiterate, is now the default setting) “will not have access to search.”
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