GoKawiil
Tech News
Google announced that starting next year, AI features like Gemini and Gemini Notebook will be turned off by default for K-12 student accounts, requiring school administrators to manually enable them. However, schools that choose to keep AI disabled will also lose access to Google Search for those student accounts, since the company says the two are deeply integrated.
Google announced it is changing default settings so Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search will be off for K-12 student accounts until administrators turn them on. The company told Engadget and the New York Times that because Search and AI are deeply integrated, schools that opt out of AI tools will also see Search blocked for students, with a message explaining its unavailability. The move reverses an August change that had enabled some AI features by default in Classroom after educator backlash.
Google told The New York Times that K-12 schools which opt out of its Gemini AI tools will also lose access to Google Search entirely, unless administrators explicitly turn the features on. The change was detailed in a Tuesday education update, where Google said Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Search will all be off by default and bundled together as a single setting.