Google announced Tuesday morning that it would switch off AI products by default for students in schools that use the technology giant’s education software. But those schools that forgo its AI services would also be cut off from Google Search.
The move comes after mounting criticism from advocacy groups and senators about the spread of Google’s AI services available in classrooms. Until Tuesday, its AI products — branded under the Gemini moniker — were automatically activated for schools using Google Classroom.
Google said Tuesday’s move would also cut off students’ access to Google Search if schools do not enable Gemini, given AI’s growing integration into the company’s search products.
Of course, they are probably going to use something like duckduckgo - I am glad at least in 2026, search engines are still not monopolized. This is not the point.
I am still concerned of this precedent being set “we will punish you from everyday life if you choose to opt out”. For now we have Toyotas, and Fords, and BMWs. We have Lemmy as an alternative to the Reddit monopoly. In 50 yrs, the biggest companies will get eaten up, bought out, or become an illusion of an “independent company”, say how Hummer is now owned by GMC. One day duckduckgo will either shut down or be forced to be bought out by Bing. Starting your own becomes prohibitively expensive, and I dont refer to having a team building your search engine itself I am talking legal, red tape. Can you believe in almost 30 yrs, I cant have an open source linux mobile phone that passes cryptography checks required for banking apps? In this phone monopoly, when we lose a new personal right every month? Are you gonna tell me “just go into the branch in person bro”? For how long is that building going to be there?
To use another analogy, you’re pleased you have a packet of 100 bandaids to fix an open wound when we are actually hemorrhaging on the inside. We should not see the school to use a non-AI search engine as the end of the story, that’s bad strategy. Need to look whats NEXT from here
lol, that’s a particularly lame example, though. Hummer was always owned by GM (GMC’s parent company), from the very first Hummer that ever rolled off an assembly line. (Okay, actually, there was a space of a few years there after the 2008 recession where the Hummer brand was actually owned by a Chinese company, before GM bought it back.)