TechAINewsGoogle is entirely disabling Search in schools that don\u2019t want AIStudents in schools that reject Google\u2019s AI will see notices that Search isn\u2019t available.Students in schools that reject Google\u2019s AI will see notices that Search isn\u2019t available.by Emma RothNov 3, 2026, 5:00 PM UTCShareGiftImage: The VergeEmma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.Google is completely turning off Search in schools that reject its AI features, the company told The New York Times. The decision was also shared in a broader education-related update from Google on Tuesday, saying that access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search \u201cwill be entirely off\u201d for K-12 student accounts unless \u201cadministrators explicitly turn them on.\u201dAdministrators will not be given the option to toggle Gemini-powered features off without disabling Search, however. Chris Phillips, Google\u2019s vice president of education, told the NYT, \u201cSearch and AI are deeply integrated,\u201d adding that schools that disable Google\u2019s AI features \u201cwill not have access to search, and they\u2019ll see a message from their school that indicates it\u2019s not available.\u201d Google didn\u2019t immediately respond to The Verge\u2019s request for comment.RelatedSchools are catching on to Big Tech\u2019s playbookNYC bans AI use for students until they reach high schoolThe announcement comes just months after Google turned its Gemini AI assistant on by default inside the Google Classroom app, which is used by more than 150 million teachers and students globally.<\/p>\n
The move added to skepticism surrounding Google\u2019s introduction of AI in schools amid reports of declining test scores and other impacts on students\u2019 learning abilities. Last month, lawmakers pressed Google on the \u201cpotential harms\u201d of putting its AI products in schools. Though Google is no longer turning on AI features in schools by default, this choice comes at a cost.The company is also attempting to address concerns about students using its AI features to find \u201cshortcuts\u201d instead of solving problems themselves. Google is embedding its Guided Learning feature, which is supposed to help students work through problems, into its AI Overviews in Search.<\/p>\n
Google will begin testing this feature in select US schools this month.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Emma RothAIGoogleNewsTechMost PopularXbox\u2019s former COO has \u2018serious concerns\u2019 about her abrupt departureOne of Google\u2019s Android partners turned 1.3 million set-top boxes into a botnetThe 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 got another \u2018unavoidable\u2019 RAM price hikeSquarespace is laying off 19 percent of employeesThe 2026 iPad Mini is a terrific tiny tablet \u2014 for a big priceAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TechAINewsGoogle is entirely disabling Search in schools that don\u2019t want AIStudents in schools that reject Google\u2019s AI will see notices that Search isn\u2019t available.Students in schools that reject Google\u2019s AI will see notices that Search\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}