Google has triggered a row over AI in classrooms after announcing that schools which choose to disable its AI tools for students could also lose access to Google Search. Under the changes announced on Tuesday by Google's Vice President and General Manager of Education, Chris Phillips, in a blog post titled “Designing Responsible AI For Learning,” access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search will remain disabled for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly enable them.

The backlash was fast and high-profile. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan accused Google of using its dominance to push AI into classrooms, arguing that schools should be able to keep traditional Search without being forced to adopt AI tools. The core complaint is technical as much as political: Google Search itself now incorporates AI features, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, so a school that wants plain search but not AI finds the two bundled together.

Google has pushed back, saying schools remain in control. Its official News from Google account on X responded to the criticism by stating that the announcement was intended to give schools greater flexibility, and that administrators will have the freedom to decide which services they want to enable. Alongside the changes, Google announced the expansion of its Guided Learning capabilities to Search and Google Classroom, designed to help students reason through questions rather than receive direct answers, with pilots in select US schools later in November before a wider rollout.

What happens next matters beyond one company's settings page. If opting out of AI means opting out of Search, the “choice” schools are offered is not really a choice — and regulators, mayors and parent groups are now treating it as a test case for how AI gets bundled into essential services. Watch whether Google unbundles plain Search from its AI features, or whether other districts and regulators join the pushback in the coming weeks.

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