Google defends school AI policy after Sanders, Mamdani backlash

The controversy follows a New York Times report that Google will turn off Search for schools that reject AI entirely, a policy that critics including Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani quickly labeled as extortion and an abuse of monopoly power. Google's response, delivered in a blog post and on X, sought to reframe the policy as one of choice: the company said Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search are off by default and that schools remain in control. Notably, Google did not directly address the core claim that Search access is conditioned on AI use, though its vice president for education, Chris Phillips, told the Times that Search and AI are deeply integrated.

The episode lands amid broader scrutiny of Google's market power, with the company having lost antitrust cases over its search and advertising businesses. Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan cited the new policy as highlighting the danger of an unregulated monopolist controlling an essential service. The pushback also reflects a wider pattern of concern over technology's impact on children, following Meta's $16.7 billion child safety settlement and OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT for Teens after state attorneys general investigations. Google's AI overviews, introduced as a search function in May 2024, recently received an 'unacceptable risk' rating from Common Sense Media, and two senators have launched an inquiry into the company's push of AI into classrooms.