Google says K-12 school admins will control access to Search and Gemini tools

Google said it is changing how its education products are controlled in schools, with access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search set to be entirely off for K-12 student accounts unless school administrators turn them on. The company said it wants schools to have control over AI in classrooms and will provide more specifics in the coming months before the changes roll out.

The company also said it is adding Guided Learning capabilities to Google Search and Google Classroom. For Search, Google said the feature is intended to help student accounts work through homework help step by step rather than going straight to an answer, and that a pilot will begin in select U.S. schools later this month before wider expansion in the coming months.

Google has been expanding Classroom for years and said the product now has more than 150 million teachers and students using it globally. The company described Classroom as having grown from an assignment system into a more capable platform with many product updates, including AI-related features and teacher tools.

Sources

• Designing responsible AI for learning

• How teachers and students helped bring Google Classroom to life