Google faced immediate criticism on Tuesday following its announcement that schools using its K-12 software would lose access to Search unless they agreed to enable AI tools. Chris Phillips, Google's vice president for education, explained to The New York Times that "Search and AI are deeply integrated," meaning that if a school doesn't opt in to AI features like Gemini, students "will not have access to search, and they'll see a message from their school that indicates it's not available."

Despite the announcement landing on a busy Election Day, several left-leaning politicians made time to voice their objections. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) took to X to accuse Google of "extortion," stating that "Google is threatening schools: if you stop your students from using AI, we will cut off your access to Google Search." Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) also posted on X, saying Google is "more concerned with forcing Gemini into schools than enabling students to succeed."

Lina Khan, the former FTC chair known for her strong stance against monopolies, also criticized Google's move as anti-competitive. "This highlights the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service," she wrote. "Multiple courts have found Google liable for violating antitrust laws, and this latest move shows it remains unchastened."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani characterized Google as a monopoly, remarking, "No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children."

While Search remains essential for gathering information, educators are concerned that its integrated AI overviews might discourage students from finding answers on their own. For the millions of students who are required to use Chromebooks and Google education tools, switching to a different search engine isn't a straightforward solution. Google says it is developing a "Guided Learning" tool for student accounts in Search, designed to guide students through the process of solving problems or locating information rather than simply providing the answer. For instance, if a student is struggling with a math problem, the feature might prompt them to recall the rules for dividing exponents instead of just producing a number. In response to the criticism, Google noted in a post on X that it had listened to educators by disabling AI products by default, and pointed out that schools could enable Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Search individually.

"We know there's concern about students using AI to shortcut schoolwork, and schools have told us they want control," Google said in a statement. "That's exactly why we are making these changes today to address the feedback we've heard from educators in recent months. And we'll continue to engage deeply with educators to ensure we are giving schools more choice, more controls, and improved Search for learning."