Google Tells Schools: Want Search? You Must Take AI Too

The switch that doesn't exist

Google's new admin controls look generous on paper: school leaders can toggle student access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and even Google Search itself. The catch is what happens when they toggle AI off.

In a blog post titled 'Designing responsible AI for learning,' Google framed the update as giving school leaders 'the control and confidence to use AI products in classrooms as they see fit.' But the controls are not independent. According to Google vice president for education Chris Phillips, 'Search and AI are deeply integrated'—a polite way of saying there is no Search-only option left.

That integration became official at Google I/O in June, when the company declared 'Google Search is now AI Search.' For schools, the practical result is an ultimatum: accept AI Overviews and AI Mode on student accounts, or lose the search engine that students, teachers, and librarians have relied on for two decades.

Google says the AI features on school accounts will be tuned to avoid simply handing students answers to their homework. But the binary choice itself is the story, and it lands just as schools are trying to write their own rules for AI in the classroom.

Critics see a monopoly play

The reaction was swift and unusually blunt for an education policy announcement.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has already restricted AI use in some city schools, wrote on X that 'Google is trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools.' Under the new setup, those schools would effectively be cut off from Google Search.

Former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan made the antitrust case more directly, writing that Google's control over search shows 'the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service.' Senator Bernie Sanders also weighed in, keeping the pressure on a company already fighting multiple antitrust battles.

Bundling a dominant product with a newer one is exactly the kind of behavior regulators have scrutinized in the past—think Microsoft and Internet Explorer. The difference here is that the 'new' product, generative AI, is being folded into the old one rather than sold alongside it, which makes the line between Search and AI harder to draw and harder to challenge.

What schools can actually control

Administrators are not powerless—they just can't have Search without AI.

Within the AI layer, Google is offering granular switches: Gemini access, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and how AI Mode and AI Overviews appear on school accounts. The company's stated goal is to let leaders decide how AI products are used in their classrooms.

For districts that want AI but worry about cheating or data privacy, those controls matter. For districts that have decided AI is not appropriate for their students yet—a position several cities and states have taken—the only lever Google offers is the one that also turns off search.

That leaves schools weighing a familiar kind of vendor lock-in, except the stakes are higher than a software renewal. Search is how students research, how teachers find materials, and how many school IT systems authenticate. Ripping it out is not a realistic option for most districts.

What it means for US, UK and EU schools

The policy applies to Google accounts managed by schools, so districts in the US, UK and EU that use Google Workspace for Education are affected wherever they are. Pricing for the AI tools themselves has not been announced as part of this update, and Google has not said whether the Search-AI bundle will differ by region.

In the EU, the move lands against a backdrop of the Digital Markets Act, which restricts how large platforms can bundle services. Regulators have not commented on this specific policy, but the timing is unlikely to go unnoticed in Brussels.

For now, schools that want to keep Google Search will have to accept some form of AI in their classrooms, whether or not they are ready. The bigger question is whether regulators see that as a product decision or a problem—and Google's antitrust calendar is already crowded.