Google's plan to disable Search for schools restricting AI sparks backlash

Google announced that schools using its K-12 software suite would lose access to Google Search unless they opted into its AI tools, triggering antitrust criticism from several U.S. politicians and former regulatory officials. Critics accused Google of leveraging its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting Gemini, stripping educational institutions of their autonomy. Google later issued a clarification stating that both the AI tools and Search are turned off by default, and schools can configure each service independently based on their needs.