Wire reporting: (AP, via Anchorage Daily News)

Primary source: blog.google

Google said Tuesday it is changing how K-12 student accounts use Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search, turning those products off until school administrators explicitly enable them^19,2,8.

In a blog post, Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager for education, wrote that access to those products “will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on”¹⁹.

The company also said it is adding Guided Learning, which walks students through problems instead of giving final answers, to Classroom globally and, in a U.S. pilot this month, to Search^19,2,6.

Reporting by The Verge and TechCrunch said schools that reject AI features will not keep Search: Phillips said Search and AI are deeply integrated, so students at those schools would see a message that Search is unavailable^8,6.

Google told Engadget that administrators can enable the listed products individually rather than as a single bundle². CNBC said a later Google post on X stated Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search are off by default and that schools can turn one or all of them back on¹.

The Verge said administrators will not get a control that disables Gemini-powered features while leaving Search on⁸. TechCrunch said the change is planned to take effect next year, with more detail for schools in coming months⁶.

CNBC reported criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who called the reported policy extortion, and from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said Google was trying to force AI into public schools¹. Google argued the update gives schools more choice, not less^8,21.

What is not settled on the public record is the precise administrator console: whether Search can be enabled without AI Mode or AI Overviews, and the exact start date for the cutoff^1,6,8.