Google Faces Political Backlash Over Tying School Search Access to AI as DuckDuckGo Courts Classrooms
By James Dargan · · 3 min read
Google is facing mounting criticism from politicians, antitrust advocates and rivals over its plan to cut off Search for K-12 schools that choose to disable its AI tools, with privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo moving quickly to pitch itself as an alternative.
As the AI Insider reported earlier, Google announced on Tuesday that AI tools for K-12 students will be switched off by default next year unless administrators enable them. Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president for education, told The New York Times that because Search and AI are now deeply integrated, students at schools that do not opt in to AI will lose access to Search and instead see a message saying it is unavailable.
The announcement, made on Election Day, drew swift condemnation. Senator Bernie Sanders accused Google on X of extortion, saying the company was threatening to cut schools off from Search if they kept students away from AI. Senator Richard Blumenthal said Google appeared more focused on pushing Gemini into schools than on helping students succeed. Former FTC chair Lina Khan described the move as anticompetitive, arguing it showed the danger of letting an unregulated monopolist control an essential service and that Google remained unchastened despite multiple court findings against it on antitrust grounds. New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani said no corporation should have the power to dictate how children are taught.
Educators worry that AI Overviews built into Search could discourage students from finding answers themselves, while for millions of pupils required to use Chromebooks and Google’s education tools, switching search engines is not straightforward. Google has around 50 million Chromebooks in schools, according to figures it has previously published, and Google Classroom serves more than 150 million users worldwide.
Google defended the decision on X, saying it was responding to schools’ requests for control by turning AI products off by default and allowing Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search to be enabled individually. The company said it would keep working with educators to provide more choice and improve Search for learning. It is also developing a Guided Learning tool for student accounts in Search, designed to walk learners through problems rather than simply supplying answers.
DuckDuckGo has seized on the moment. Founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg shared documentation on X explaining how schools can make DuckDuckGo their default search engine and invited them to get in touch for help. Chief public affairs officer Kamyl Bazbaz went further, characterizing the move as forcing AI on schoolchildren in the manner of a monopolist that believes people are powerless. In an email to TechCrunch, DuckDuckGo said Google could easily turn off Search’s AI features for schools if it chose to.
DuckDuckGo offers its own AI features, including the Duck.ai chat interface and an AI search assistant, but lets users disable them and runs a dedicated noai.duckduckgo.com site with AI answers, images and suggestions switched off. The company reported earlier this year that app installs had risen 30% as users rejected Google’s AI-driven search.
The dispute comes as Americans weigh how much AI they want in their lives, with Tuesday’s elections signaling strong local opposition to new AI data centers.
