Google will turn off its AI tools for school students unless their schools decide to switch them on. In a blog post on Tuesday, November 3, the company said Gemini, its chatbot, along with Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search, will be off by default for K-12 student accounts, the accounts schools manage for children from kindergarten to high school. Administrators can turn on one, two or all of these services. Google told AFP the change will roll out worldwide, starting in the United States, but gave no date. It reverses a choice made in August, when Gemini in Classroom was opened to students of all ages and switched on automatically in schools that already allowed Gemini.

The decision came after senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley wrote to the company in October asking why AI features had been made the default on school devices. Their letter said more than 150 million students use Google Classroom. Search is on the list because AI answers are now built into it. Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president for education, told The New York Times that if a school bans AI, its students will lose Search too and see a message saying it is not available. New York City said the chatbot and AI Mode were already blocked on student Chromebooks and asked Google to remove AI summaries from students’ search results as well. Los Angeles schools said they are reviewing the announcement.