Google announced Tuesday that it will switch off artificial intelligence features in its educational apps for K-12 student accounts unless school administrators expressly choose to enable them.
The Alphabet-owned company said it made the decision after surveying school administrators and teachers, framing the change as a way to let institutions manage how students use AI. "We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach," Google said in a blog post.
The policy comes with a significant catch, however. Schools that decline to activate Google's AI tools, such as Classroom and Notebook, will also lose access to the company's search engine, Google told The New York Times. Chris Phillips, Google's vice president for Education, told the newspaper that AI capabilities are now deeply integrated into the search product.
A school that has banned AI use by students and educators "will not have access to search, and they'll see a message from their school that indicates it's not available," Phillips told the Times.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBS News.
The announcement quickly drew criticism from public officials who accused the tech giant of pressuring schools into adopting its AI products. In a statement posted on social media, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani charged that 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," Mamdani added. "Our public schools exist to serve students, not to grow the profit margins of Big Tech."
In September, New York City schools said AI would be banned and imposed a one-year delay on the use of generative AI for children in 2-K through eighth grade. The policy affects nearly 600,000 students, about two-thirds of the system's total enrollment, and covers all software with student-facing generative AI, including companion chatbots, according to education officials.
Lina Khan, who served as chair of the Federal Trade Commission from 2021 to 2025, said in a statement posted on X that Google is seeking to exploit its dominance in internet search. Khan now chairs the board of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit group that promotes economic growth and investment in the city.
"This highlights the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service," Khan said. "Multiple courts have found Google liable for violating antitrust laws, and this latest move shows it remains unchastened." She added, "As the public increasingly pushes back against the use of AI in schools, Google is making clear it will punish those who don't fall in line."
