Mamdani vs Google over AI in schools
Google will cut off Search for K-12 students at schools that choose to block its AI tools, The New York Times has reported. In September, Mamdani announced a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI from 2-K through eighth grade, covering nearly 600,000 students. Roughly 150 million students and teachers use Google Classroom, and Chromebooks are the most widely issued student devices in US schools.
Los Angeles Unified also restricted student access, and its officials had hoped students could keep using Google Search with AI Overviews turned off, the NYT reported.
But Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president for education, told the NYT that “Search and AI are deeply integrated. Students at schools that ban AI “will not have access to search,” he said, and will instead see a message from their school saying it is unavailable. “We know there’s concern about students using AI to shortcut schoolwork, and schools have told us they want control,” the company wrote.
Starting early next year, the company’s AI features will be off by default for student accounts unless administrators turn them on. Google responded on X, saying its announcement gives schools “more choice, not less. Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search will be off by default, and schools can turn on one, two or all three individually. The policy lands in cities that have already drawn a line. The scale explains why the fight matters. Google has also changed course before. In August, it turned on AI features by default in Classroom for schools that let students use Gemini, upsetting school leaders. That decision will now be reversed.
Districts that allow AI will get two Search options from early 2027, according to the NYT. What the post left out is whether Search can be switched on without AI. One keeps AI Overviews and AI chats on, much like the consumer version. The other runs on Guided Learning, a Gemini feature that walks students through problems step by step instead of handing them answers. Plain search without AI summaries is not one of the choices.
Google said AI Mode and AI Overviews for schools will now work this way, so students “don’t get quick answers to schoolwork. Guided Learning is already available globally in Google Classroom, and a pilot in Search begins with select US schools later this month. The NYT noted that the consumer version of Guided Learning can still be used to cheat, producing a detailed essay in response to an Advanced Placement history prompt in the newspaper’s own test.