Google is a big part of the school day for millions of students, as a search engine and as a hub for sharing documents and turning in homework, NPR reported.
An announcement this month made a sharper point: Google wants AI to be part of that education ecosystem. Many parents do not. "Parents are angry," said Jodi Carreon, a mother in Southern California who runs the advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens. When she first read that Google was letting schools turn off AI features for students, she was excited. Her group is part of a parent-led movement demanding limits on technology in the classroom.
But even as districts including Los Angeles Unified, Seattle Public Schools and New York City Public Schools recently agreed to bans on AI in the classroom, Google did not offer a clean off switch for Search. If schools do not want AI Overviews to appear when students use its flagship Search tool, the company said, they will lose access to Google Search altogether. Even advocates who want less tech in schools know that losing the ability to "Google" something will be an issue for teachers, NPR reported.
A monopoly fight, and a theory about a court win
In a post on X, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Google is using "its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools," and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts wrote to Google's CEO demanding the company reverse its policy.
Tracy Pizzo, who worked at Google for more than a decade before leaving in 2022, much of that time focused on education and ethical AI standards, told NPR the move baffled her. She offered a theory: it could be linked to two recent court cases Google fended off in Washington, D.C. Big online publishers sued, saying adding AI Overviews to search hurt their business. Their antitrust argument hinged 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 were to provide an off switch for schools only ... that's evidence that they can be separated. And that undermines the win they just had in court."
When asked for comment, Google directed NPR to its original announcement, where the company said, "Our goal is simple: provide school leaders the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit." The company did not respond to additional questions about any connection between its announcement and recent antitrust litigation, NPR reported. Pizzo's theory is a theory, not a finding. The policy schools now face is more concrete: no AI Overviews, no Google Search.