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- Google is offering schools more control over how students use and interact with AI
- There is a caveat though: schools that opt-out of using AI will not have access to Google search
- The company has deeply integrated AI within its search platform
Google recently laid out plans to offer AI Guided Learning as part of its Classroom offerings for schools. But schools that opt out of AI could be blocked from using Google Search entirely, posing big problems for education without AI.
For example, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has banned AI use in some schools meaning that they would be effectively cut off from using Google Search. “Google is trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools,” Mamdani wrote on X.
You wouldn’t think it would be so difficult to have a switch that either shows or hides Google’s AI overview, but the search engine giant announced that “Google Search is now AI Search” at Google I/O in June, and Google vice president for education Chris Phillips has confirmed that “Search and AI are deeply integrated.”
Google is trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools.No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children. Our public schools exist to serve students, not to grow the profit margins of Big Tech.https://t.co/jfACMS1Sh2November 3, 2026
No search without AI
As outlined in Google’s blog post, titled “Designing responsible AI for learning,” school administrators will have the ability to control student access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search, alongside updates to how AI Mode and AI Overviews are displayed on school accounts to avoid simply providing the answer to schoolwork.
“Our goal is simple: provide school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit,” the blog post states. But if a school doesn’t want to use AI at all, they could be cut off from the biggest search engine in the world.
The ultimatum over AI in schools has raised questions about Google’s control over the search market — questions that could bring even more antitrust lawsuits against the company.
Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan wrote on X that Google’s control over search shows “the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service.”
Even Senator Bernie Sanders chimed in on Google's decision, stating that "Google is threatening schools," and saying that the decision to remove search from schools that opt-out of AI is "extortion."
President Trump claimed that AI oligarchs could regulate themselves because they “love our country.” Now, Google is threatening schools: if you stop your students from using AI, we will cut off your access to Google Search. That’s not love. That’s extortion. PAUSE AI NOW.November 3, 2026
The future of AI apparently isn’t optional
Those who prefer to take a non-AI approach to life might be in for a shock in the coming years. AI is being plugged into every new service and device, making it near impossible to avoid.
Of course, you can use Google the old-fashioned way by simply ignoring the AI Summary and finding the answers yourself (which many websites would prefer), but the separation between a service and its AI “enhancements” are going to become increasingly blurred.
As angry as people are getting over sprawling AI data centers and the effect the technology is having on the job market, there are trillions of dollars riding on AI’s success - and that matters more to billionaires and corporations than their perception in the eyes of the public.
The dangers of becoming too reliant on AI are already beginning to show, especially when it comes to critical thinking and AI psychosis, so there are worrying questions that need to be asked about AI use in education.
