Google said on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, that it will switch off its search engine and its artificial intelligence tools for K-12 student accounts until school administrators turn them on. K-12 covers kindergarten to grade 12.
The company, based in Mountain View, California, will keep Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Gemini in Classroom off by default. Schools that choose not to use the AI tools will also lose Google Search for their students. Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, announced the change in a blog post. He wrote that “schools should have control over AI in their classrooms.”
The change reverses part of what Google did in August, when it switched on Gemini for many K-12 students who use Google Classroom. Before then, Google allowed Gemini only for students aged 18 or older. Educators, child development experts and parents objected to the August move.
Google leads the education technology market in the United States. The company says 150 million students and teachers use Google Classroom worldwide, and many students use school-provided Chromebooks.
Critics said the new rule pressures schools. Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, wrote on social media that “Google is using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI.” She said Google will “punish those who don’t fall in line.”
Josh Golin, executive director of the children’s advocacy group Fairplay, said the attempt to “strong-arm schools into using its AI products” would likely backfire. He said Google’s technology in schools aims at “developing lifetime brand loyalty” rather than learning. He urged schools to turn off both the AI tools and Google, and to find search alternatives that protect privacy better.
The dispute over bundling began before this announcement. In July, Common Sense Media rated Google’s AI search too risky for students to use and noted that schools could not disable the AI features without blocking Google entirely.
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Concern over AI in classrooms extends beyond Google. New York City and Los Angeles, the two largest school districts in the United States, have temporarily banned generative AI tools in elementary and middle schools while they study safety and write policies.
Many students already use AI for homework, which makes cheating easier and can replace critical thinking. Experts have also questioned how access to AI affects children’s brain development.
