Google has told K-12 schools they can reject its Gemini AI products, but only by giving up Google Search. The company confirmed Tuesday that AI tools will be disabled by default for student accounts unless administrators explicitly enable them. Yet schools that want to ban AI entirely must also disable Search, because Google is not providing a traditional version of Search without AI features.
Chris Phillips, Google's vice president and general manager of education, told educators that "Search and AI are deeply integrated," according to Education Week. Administrators will be able to activate or disable Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Search individually. That means schools can block standalone chatbots while keeping Search, but they cannot remove AI from Search itself. Starting in early 2027, schools that enable Search will receive versions with AI Overviews, AI Mode or the education-focused Guided Learning experience.
The announcement has triggered political criticism. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused Google of "trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools," while former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan said Google was using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI. New York City has already imposed a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI through eighth grade, covering nearly 600,000 students, and Los Angeles has restricted the technology. Los Angeles officials had specifically hoped to keep Google Search while removing AI-generated summaries, but under the new controls that is not an option.
Google's move has opened the door for rival DuckDuckGo. On November 4, CEO Gabriel Weinberg offered to help school administrators make DuckDuckGo their classroom default and shared deployment instructions on X. The instructions explain how to change the default search engine on managed Chrome browsers and Chromebooks. Schools can also use noai.duckduckgo.com to disable AI-generated answers and images. DuckDuckGo offers its own AI tools such as Duck.ai but lets users decide whether to use them.
DuckDuckGo reported a 76% rise in US installs after Google announced the changes, and app analytics firm Apptopia measured a 29% rise in average daily US downloads during an earlier period. Still, neither figure proves district-wide school migration. Google remains dominant, accounting for 91.05% of global search traffic in October, compared with DuckDuckGo's 0.64%. In the United States, Google held 85.45% and DuckDuckGo 1.74%.
Google says more than 50 million students and educators use Chromebooks and over 150 million use Classroom and Assignments. Even a small shift could expand DuckDuckGo's reach: if 1% of Chromebook users changed their default search engine, that would represent 500,000 people. However, adoption will depend on administrators. A SETDA 2026 survey found that evidence, privacy and safety are becoming increasingly important in school technology purchasing decisions. Stanford's review of more than 800 papers on AI in K-12 education found only 20 rigorous causal studies, and tools that guide students through problems showed more promise than chatbots that provide direct answers.
