Tell Google: Stop Forcing AI Into Our Schools

Google is giving schools an outrageous choice: Accept AI-generated answers in students' search results, or lose access to Google Search altogether. One of the world's most powerful tech companies is refusing to let educators turn off AI features without sacrificing a tool millions of students rely on.

Under Google's newly announced policy, schools can disable standalone AI tools like Gemini. But there's a catch: If they want students to use Google Search, they must also accept AI Overviews and other AI features built directly into search results. Google isn't offering a straightforward way to keep traditional Search while turning off AI-generated answers.

Teachers are raising serious concerns. Students need to learn how to research facts, evaluate sources, and think independently. But Google's AI Overviews can hand them ready-made answers before they've even examined the evidence for themselves.

Tell Google: Stop forcing AI into our schools. Let educators turn off AI-generated answers without taking away students' access to traditional Google Search.

AI-generated answers are often wrong. A recent Washington University study found that only about 42% of Google's AI Overviews could be fully verified using the sources they cited. That means students could encounter answers they can't reliably check — presented by a search engine they've been taught to trust.

Google claims its AI tools can improve learning. But if they're so valuable, why won't the company let schools decide whether to use them?

Some school districts are already resorting to browser extensions and modified search links to block unwanted AI features. But these makeshift solutions could stop working whenever Google changes its search engine. Schools shouldn't have to rely on fragile technical workarounds just to control what students see.

Millions of students use Google products for schoolwork, giving the company enormous influence over how children access information. And with changes to Google's school controls planned for 2027, educators need a dependable solution before the new policy takes effect.

Google has the authority to change its own products and provide meaningful choices. Schools should be able to use traditional Search without accepting generative AI, whether or not they choose to use other AI tools in their classrooms.

Our children's education should be shaped by teachers and parents, not dictated by Silicon Valley executives.

Add your name: Demand that Google give schools real control over AI and protect students' access to traditional search.

The petition to Google reads:

“Give K–12 schools a clear, reliable way to disable AI Overviews, AI Mode, and other generative-AI responses in Google Search without losing access to traditional search results. Make these controls available across school-managed student accounts without additional fees or technical workarounds. Let educators decide when and how AI belongs in their classrooms.”