Google told schools: take our AI or lose Search — then folded in a day

Google announced on November 3 that Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search would be “entirely off” for K-12 student accounts until administrators turned them on — and that schools rejecting the AI tools would lose Search entirely, because, as education chief Chris Phillips told the New York Times, “Search and AI are deeply integrated.”

The backlash was immediate: Senator Bernie Sanders called it “extortion,” former FTC chair Lina Khan accused Google of using its search monopoly to coerce schools, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said no corporation should dictate how children are taught. By Tuesday afternoon Google retreated, saying schools can turn each product on individually — though any Search they switch on still comes with AI Overviews and AI Mode built in.