Families protest Google plan to bring AI into school Chromebook searches
Students on school-issued Chromebooks will have no Search option without AI, and schools must switch off features that are otherwise on by default.
Parents and advocacy groups staged rallies in seven US cities on Wednesday to push back on Google's plan to put AI features into school-issued Chromebooks. The protests followed a Google statement confirming that students would have no way to use Google Search without AI features. Google said the change offers schools more choice, since Search, Gemini and Gemini Notebook are off by default, but it offers no version of Search that leaves AI out. Families argued that the only way to avoid AI results was to append "-ai" to each query, and they accused the company of hooking children on its models. In Chicago, dozens of protesters marched to Google's downtown office carrying signs and chanting against Gemini.
Why it matters
For parents and school districts, the change means that avoiding AI results on Chromebooks is no longer a simple setting. Google has turned Search, Gemini and Gemini Notebook off by default, but it offers no version of Search that leaves AI out, so the only way families can currently avoid AI answers is to add "-ai" to each query. That shifts the burden onto students and parents, and it raises the question of how much control schools keep over what children see. The protests in seven US cities show that many families are not willing to accept that arrangement without a choice.
Series Google AI tools in schools
- Families protest Google plan to bring AI into school Chromebook searches
- Google says schools can keep search without enabling its AI tools
- Google lets schools switch off its AI tools for students, but a school that does so also loses Search
- Google adds step-by-step Guided Learning to Classroom and tests it in Search
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