Mountain View:Google has announced plans to restrict access to its artificial intelligence tools and search engine for K-12 students by default starting early next year. This move will allow schools to individually decide which services to enable, addressing concerns from educators and parents about students' interactions with AI technology.

According to Anadolu Agency – English, school administrators will be required to explicitly enable the services in Google's education software. This decision follows consultations with schools, teachers, researchers, and policymakers. Google emphasized that schools should have control over AI in their classrooms, ensuring administrators have the necessary tools to manage their approach.

The update will affect products such as Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search, which will be entirely disabled for K-12 student accounts until school administrators choose to activate them. Google clarified on social media that these changes are intended to provide schools with "more choice, not less."

Additionally, administrators will have the option to enable Google Search, Gemini, and Gemini Notebook separately. Google is also updating Search to make it more learning-friendly, offering AI Mode and AI Overviews for step-by-step guidance rather than quick answers, addressing worries about students using AI to bypass schoolwork.

Chris Phillips, Google's vice president for education, noted that Search and AI are deeply integrated. Schools opting to block AI would also need to restrict access to Google Search, resulting in students seeing a message indicating its unavailability. Google plans to provide further details to schools in the coming months to help them prepare for these changes.

Google's tools and services, including its search engine, Gmail, and Chromebooks, are extensively used in U.S. schools.