Politicians criticize Google for making Search access conditional on enabling the Gemini AI tool in schools

Google's decision to make access to Search in schools conditional on enabling AI tools has drawn political criticism. Senator Bernie Sanders called the move "extortion," saying that Google is telling schools: if you ban students from using AI, we will cut off your access to Search. Senator Richard Blumenthal said that Google cares more about pushing its Gemini product into schools than about students' success. Former FTC Chair Lina Khan described it as the danger arising from an unregulated monopolist controlling an essential service, and recalled that courts have already repeatedly found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani added that no corporation should have the power to determine how children learn. Chris Phillips, Vice President for Education, confirmed the response to media by saying that "Search and AI are deeply integrated," and that if a school does not enable AI tools like Gemini, students will lose access to Search and will see a message that the service is unavailable.

This is a response to an earlier Google announcement stating that for K-12 accounts, Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search will all be completely disabled unless school administrators explicitly enable them — and it is not possible to enable Search without simultaneously enabling the AI features. The announcement came several months after Google enabled Gemini by default in Google Classroom, which is used by more than 150 million teachers and students, and amid concerns over reports of declining test scores and AI's impact on students' ability to learn.

Google responded to the criticism by stating that it listened to educators and disabled AI products by default, with schools able to enable Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Search individually. The company is also developing a Guided Learning feature designed to guide students through solving a problem rather than providing the answer directly — testing in select U.S. schools is set to begin this month, according to the company.