Google’s school AI policy drew immediate fire after the company said K–12 administrators would need to opt into AI products for student accounts. The flashpoint was Search: Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president for education, said that because “Search and AI are deeply integrated,” students at schools declining AI tools “will not have access to search.”¹

The response was swift. Sen. Bernie Sanders called the arrangement “extortion,” while Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Google appeared more focused on forcing Gemini into schools than helping students succeed. Former FTC chair Lina Khan framed it as another warning about an unregulated monopolist controlling an essential service.¹ New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose city had imposed a moratorium on generative AI in younger grades, argued that “No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children.”¹

Google then stressed that AI products would be off by default and that schools could enable Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search separately. It said educators had asked for “more choice, more controls, and improved Search for learning.”¹ Its later clarification sharpened the distinction: schools can disable Gemini while retaining Search, or turn everything off. But Search itself remains bundled with AI Overviews and AI Mode; there is no option for logged-in students to use Google Search without AI features.²

That is the gap critics say Google has left unresolved. For educators wary that AI shortcuts undermine research and problem-solving, rejecting AI still means losing the dominant search engine. Technology consultant Jose Antonio Bowen argued that AI may be useful in limited classroom roles, but “in education it can’t be unfettered access.”³

The policy, due to be implemented early next year, may also create an opening for rivals that offer AI-free settings. Yet switching is difficult for schools deeply tied to Chromebooks and Google’s web index—making Google’s promise of choice feel, to opponents, considerably narrower than advertised.²