Google will cut off search access for students at schools that reject AI tools

Students using Google software in the classroom will not be allowed to access the company’s search engine unless their school system also opts in to artificial intelligence (AI) tools, the tech giant said on Tuesday.

The company, based in California, USA, has been facing pushback from educators, child development experts and parents over the use of its technology in schools, with the backlash heating up since it announced in August that it had turned on its Gemini chatbot for many K-12 students who use Google Classroom.

On Tuesday, the company said that practice would no longer be the default option for school administrators and that opting out of AI tools would also mean losing access to Google search.