Google announced on Tuesday that it plans to disable AI tools for K-12 students next year unless school administrators explicitly turn them on. The tech giant says the change follows consultations with schools, teachers, leading researchers, and policymakers. As a result, Google is revising its approach across Gemini, NotebookLM, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search.
The decision means that schools choosing to restrict AI altogether will no longer be able to access Google Search, as AI features are now integrated into the search engine.
Great! Another great reason to move to Ecosia, or Qwant, or something else!
Does it really mean that? You can always type -ai into the search prompt to remove the ai features so that doesn’t seem to be the case right now.
It sounds like they are switching their AI tools in schools to opt-in, where the school chooses for their network? Not sure how that is set up but I mean… What would be bad about that?
I would be stoked if they did it in a reasonable manner and not a “well ai is too baked in so you can’t use any Google services” which is why I was questioning the op
Win win?
No AI, no Google.
Is this a threat? Couldn’t they just use anything else? Also how do google know its a school? Its been a while since I was in school but almost none of us logged into google and we didn’t have google accounts.
I think it’s in the administrative platform, all the laptops would be registered under the schools platform. If the admin disables the AI feature it disables search.
Could that be a reason to move away from googles platform then? When I was at school we didn’t really have any platforms. Just windows PCs with a domain login and software we need installed on the PCs. We all had GIMP.
Head of IT was a twat, but the other IT teacher was based - gave everyone a memory stick with Linux on it.
They are trying to force AI in schools. Schools are public businesses with funding. Companies don’t really care about end users unless it is selling advertising.
States are moving to stop AI in schools. If AI is blocked then the school is losing on its investment.
People should stop with Google the same as Meta.