Google will let schools turn off AI, but they may also lose Search

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Google is rolling out new controls for schools to limit students’ access to the company’s AI tools. But if schools opt out of AI altogether, they’ll also lose access to Google Search.

The policy change could mark a major shift in how students and educators interact with one of the biggest providers of education technology in the world. Google’s Chromebook laptops are used by tens of millions of students, sometimes starting in kindergarten.

The move comes as many communities have pushed for stricter limits on screen time and AI use in schools, amid growing fears that the technology could stunt students’ learning and development or pose safety risks. A number of school districts, including New York City and Los Angeles public schools, banned generative AI tools for many or all students this school year.

Google on Tuesday said its products that use AI, like its Gemini assistant and Google Search, will be off by default for K-12 student accounts, until school administrators “explicitly turn them on.” The change reverses an earlier move by Google in August to turn on Gemini by default in its Google Classrooms app.

But now, if schools want to turn off AI entirely, they’ll also lose access to Google Search.

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Nation’s largest school district bans AI in the classroom through 8th grade

The company said the changes are in response to calls from educators and policymakers for more control over AI tools.

Chris Phillips, vice president of education at Google, told the New York Times that “search and A.I. are deeply integrated,” and that schools that ban AI “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.”

Google has made AI central to Search in recent years — adding “AI overviews” summarizing answers at the top of many results pages and expanding the size of the search bar to accommodate longer queries.

Google’s Tuesday blog post does not offer specifics on how these controls will work, or what students might see if they tried to access Google Search from a school that has banned AI. Phillips wrote in the post that the company will, “share more specifics with schools in the coming months ahead of the changes rolling out so they have time to prepare and enable a smooth transition.”

Google did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CNN.

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The best way to search for info online in the AI era

The policy change came as part of a larger announcement by Google about a slate of updates to its AI tools for learning, based on the idea that the technology should help students work through problems rather than simply giving them answers. Under this new “guided learning” principle, Google says that when its systems detect, for example, that a student is using Search for homework help, they’ll be prompted to walk through the problem or topic step-by-step rather than receiving a single answer.

It’s an approach also being taken by other AI companies, as they seek to convince educators and parents that their products are valuable learning tools, and that experience with AI in school is essential to success in the workforce later.

OpenAI in August announced “ChatGPT for Teens” which, in addition to safety controls, focuses heavily on learning, allowing parents and teens to turn on “Study Mode” to work through questions. Many tech companies have also provided funding to train teachers in AI.

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谷歌正在推出针对学校的新管控措施，以限制学生访问该公司的人工智能工具。但如果学校完全选择不使用人工智能，他们也将失去对谷歌搜索的访问权限。

这项政策变化可能标志着学生和教育工作者与全球最大的教育技术提供商之一互动方式的重大转变。谷歌的Chromebook笔记本电脑被数千万学生使用，有些学生甚至从幼儿园就开始使用。

鉴于人们日益担忧这项技术可能会阻碍学生的学习和发展，或带来安全隐患，许多社区一直在推动对学校的屏幕时间和人工智能使用进行更严格的限制。包括纽约市和洛杉矶公立学校在内的多个学区，在本学年已禁止大部分或全部学生使用生成式人工智能工具。

谷歌周二表示，其人工智能产品，例如Gemini助手和谷歌搜索，将默认对K-12学生账户关闭，直到学校管理员“明确启用”为止。此举推翻了谷歌8月份在其Google Classrooms应用中默认启用Gemini的举措。

但现在，如果学校想要完全关闭人工智能，他们也将失去对谷歌搜索的访问权限。

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美国最大的学区禁止在八年级及以下年级的课堂上使用人工智能。

该公司表示，这些改变是为了响应教育工作者和政策制定者要求对人工智能工具进行更多控制的呼吁。

谷歌教育副总裁克里斯·菲利普斯告诉《纽约时报》，“搜索和人工智能已经深度融合”，禁止人工智能的学校“将无法使用搜索功能，他们会收到学校发来的消息，表明搜索功能不可用”。

近年来，谷歌已将人工智能作为搜索的核心——在许多搜索结果页面的顶部添加了“人工智能概览”来总结答案，并扩大了搜索栏的尺寸以适应更长的查询。

谷歌周二发布的博文并未详细说明这些控制措施将如何运作，也没有说明如果学生在禁止使用人工智能的学校访问谷歌搜索会看到什么。菲利普斯在博文中写道，公司将在未来几个月内与学校分享更多细节，以便他们有时间做好准备，实现平稳过渡。

谷歌没有回应 CNN 的多次置评请求。

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人工智能时代在线搜索信息的最佳方式

谷歌此次政策调整是其一系列人工智能学习工具更新计划的一部分，该计划的核心理念是让技术帮助学生解决问题，而不是简单地给出答案。根据这项新的“引导式学习”原则，谷歌表示，例如，当系统检测到学生正在使用搜索功能寻求作业帮助时，系统会引导学生逐步理解问题或主题，而不是直接给出答案。

其他人工智能公司也采取了类似的策略，他们试图说服教育工作者和家长，他们的产品是宝贵的学习工具，并且在学校体验人工智能对于日后在职场取得成功至关重要。

OpenAI在8月份发布了“青少年版ChatGPT”，除了安全控制功能外，它还非常注重学习，允许家长和青少年开启“学习模式”来一起解答问题。许多科技公司也提供了资金，用于培训教师掌握人工智能技术。