If schools don’t want Google AI summaries to appear when students use its flagship search tool, the company said, they will lose access to Google Search entirely.
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Don Ryan/AP/AP
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Google is a big part of the school day for millions of students. It is not just a search engine. It is a center for sharing documents and submitting assignments.
An announcement this month makes it clear: Google wants AI to be part of that educational ecosystem.
Many parents don’t do it.
“Parents are angry,” said Jodi Carreon, a Southern California mother. “They are very angry.”
When Carreon, who also runs the advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens, first read that Google was allowing schools to turn off AI features for students, she was excited. Her group is part of the movement led by parents demanding limits on technology in the classroom.
But even as districts like Los Angeles Unified, Seattle Public Schools, and New York City Public Schools recently agreed to ban AI in classrooms, Google did not do so. If schools don’t want AI summaries to appear when students use their flagship search tool, they will lose access to Google Search entirely, the company said. Even advocates who want less technology in schools know that losing the ability to “Google” something will be a problem for teachers.
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A disconcerting move
Tracy Pizzo worked at Google for more than a decade before leaving the company in 2022. Much of her time at the company focused on AI education and ethical standards. Google’s move this month baffled her, especially at a time when young people’s use of AI is under so much scrutiny.
He has a theory as to why the tech giant is taking this stance: It could be related to two recent court cases that Google rejected in DC.
Google was sued by large online publishers who said adding an AI overview to search negatively affected their business. The publishers sued under antitrust laws, and their argument relied on convincing the court that AI Overviews was a separate product from Google Search.
“The judge decided that Search and AI are an integrated product,” Pizzo said, and subsequently dismissed the cases. “Now, if Google provided a kill switch just for schools… that would be evidence that they can be separated. And that undermines the victory they just won in court.”
When asked for comment, Google directed NPR to its original announcement, where the company said, “Our goal is simple: give school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit.” The company did not respond to additional questions from NPR about any connection between its announcement and recent antitrust cases.
NPR asked antitrust experts about this theory. They weren’t entirely convinced, but they didn’t completely rule it out either.
The “AI or nothing” approach
In any case, Google’s AI overviews don’t get high marks from some watchdogs.
Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that evaluates how teens interact with technology, recently called the product an “unacceptable risk.” Among other things, Common Sense criticized the tool for unsafe content and citing false information.
The day after the announcement, Google came under fire for another AI product in schools. North Carolina parents sued the company after Google’s Gemini chatbot helped their 13-year-old daughter plan her suicide and funeral on her school-issued Chromebook.
Even some of Google’s former partners are surprised by the company’s current position, including Superintendent Hank Thiele in Illinois.
“It may have caused a lot of damage to the trust that Google has built in education,” he said.
Thiele has worked with Google Classroom for nearly two decades and says the company has always been a great partner. His district, made up entirely of high school students, is in the process of discovering AI for its students. As an early adopter of technology in the classroom, you want to be on the cutting edge with AI.
He said he believes the company will listen to people’s comments, but they got the message wrong.
“Google should have just said, ‘Our bad,'” Thiele said. “That would have been the appropriate response for a school.”
The “AI or nothing” approach, as Thiele put it, did not have good results.
Edited by Nirvi Shah and Nicole Cohen
Google is a financial sponsor of NPR.
