Google Will Cut Off Search for Schools That Block Its AI Tools

Google said Tuesday that schools that keep its artificial intelligence tools turned off will lose access to its search engine, a policy that drew sharp criticism from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission.

The company said it will switch off AI features in its education apps for K-12 student accounts unless school administrators choose to enable them. In a blog post, Google said it surveyed administrators and teachers and concluded that "schools should have control over AI in their classrooms."

The catch, as Google told The New York Times, is that schools that do not turn on the AI tools, including products such as Classroom and Notebook, would also lose search. Chris Phillips, Google's vice president for education, said AI is now deeply built into search. A school that bans students and educators from using AI, he told the Times, "will not have access to search," and affected users would see a message saying the service is unavailable. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBS News.

Mamdani accused the company on social media of "trying to use its monopoly power to force AI into our public schools." He added: "No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children."

Khan, who led the FTC from 2021 to 2025 and now chairs the board of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said the move shows Google "remains unchastened." She said the company is trying to exploit its dominance in search and "will punish those who don't fall in line."

The dispute lands in a city that has deliberately slowed AI in classrooms. In September, New York City schools announced that AI would be banned until students reach high school, along with a one-year delay on generative AI for students from pre-K through eighth grade. The restrictions affect about 600,000 students, roughly two-thirds of the system's enrollment, and cover all software with student-facing generative AI, including companion chatbots.

It is not clear how many districts have already blocked Google's AI features, or whether the company will apply the search restriction to every school that opts out. Google has not said when the change takes effect. The announcement also arrives as Google faces pressure from other directions, including a steep stock drop last week after a profit miss.

The fight puts a basic question in front of school leaders: whether a company that supplies search, email and classroom software gets to decide which of its features come bundled with the rest. Critics say the answer matters well beyond New York, since Google products are used in schools across the country. Google has framed the change as giving administrators the choice, while opponents say a choice that costs a district its search engine is not much of one.