Parents and teachers across the US are criticizing Google’s announcement that schools choosing to block AI tools could also lose access to Google Search.

Google announced last week a range of new AI tools for schools and classrooms, alongside options allowing teachers and administrators to restrict their use. The company said schools should have control over whether students use AI in the classroom, but that schools that choose to block Google’s AI tools will also lose access to its search engine.

“We believe schools should have control over AI in their classrooms and in providing administrators with controls to help them manage their approach,” said Chris Phillips, vice-president for education at Google. “After listening to schools, teachers, leading researchers, and policymakers, we are now updating our approach to controls for Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom, and Google Search. Access to these products will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until school administrators explicitly turn them on.”

Parents and teachers across the country raised concerns to the Guardian about AI’s potential to weaken students’ critical-thinking skills and the growing influence of big tech in education.

View image in fullscreen Chris Phillips, vice-president and general manager of Geo at Google, during the 2024 CES event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 9 January 2024. Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Some called on schools to consider alternative search engines, while others argued that students should be taught how to use AI responsibly rather than prevented from accessing it altogether.

Jen Atay, a 51-year-old teacher in Hawaii, lambasted Google’s approach, saying: “When the software is free, you are the product, and it is inappropriate for Google to test or develop AI with minors. This should not be allowed at all.”

A 44-year-old father of two boys in Amissville, Virginia, said he worries that “AI will weaken people’s ability to think critically. I use AI in my work, but it would not be effective if I did not have well over a decade of experience under my belt. Even the best models are often flat-out wrong in their responses.”

“These tools are not something that should be introduced to children at such a young age. I’m hopeful that a Democratic Congress will force the adoption of legislation that will protect our schools from corporate malfeasance such as this. This threat from Google is nothing but extortion and it should be treated as such,” he added.

Similarly, Eyla Whitemoon, a mother and educator based in Kernville, California, said: “By infiltrating or ‘partnering’ with our institutions, Google and Meta et al, created a false dependency and our starved public education system happily merged with their ilk. And just like any good mob boss, drug dealer or capitalist minion, these companies got society hooked on their products and now are raising the cost of their supply … My heart aches for what our children won’t experience in a future where AI is in charge and the mega technoautocrats sit in their bunkers and hide.”

Meanwhile, a 64-year-old educator based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said: “Thankfully, after having to revamp all teaching in response to AI, Gen Z has begun appreciating what they stand to lose on account of surrendering their cognitive skills to AI. There are alternative search engines to Google and those will now be what we turn to. Teachers and students alike detest the tech industry’s demand that we kiss their feet and give ourselves up to be their peons.”

Others questioned why schools should depend on Google at all.

View image in fullscreen Chromebooks lie out after being cleaned in preparation for the start of school at Newfield elementary school on 31 August 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

An 84-year-old retiree and mother in Maryland, said: “Google decided to follow the evil path to riches. When they started, they were great. Today they are simply evil money grubbers … Schools should tell Google to go pound sand and simply have kids use DuckDuckGo or one of the other search engines … There is nothing Google offers that is not available from some other source.”

Rachel Dominguez, a 42-year-old parent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, also suggested that schools turn to academic databases instead of relying on Google Search.

“Seeing as how Google Search has turned into an AI slop-first service, maybe it’s better that the kids learn how to use databases such as Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, and arXiv. Most school districts have subscriptions to these services, and students learning to use them would be better prepared for college. A trip to the media center is not some abnormal chore … That is, if the librarian still has a job in the first place,” she said.

Not everyone believes blocking AI is the answer. Some argued that schools should focus on teaching students how to use the technology responsibly.

A 67-year-old emerging technology teacher in Texas said: “I do not blame Google. AI is not going away. I’ve been very frustrated this year trying to teach AI literacy with AI blocked. Schools need to teach how to properly use AI, not block it.”

A California resident echoed that view, arguing that schools could use Google’s AI tools to teach students to question the information they receive.

“Google Search has existed since the 90s and it’s crazy of them to completely remove it instead of just removing Gemini. That being said, I would like to see schools actually permit the use of Gemini and use it as an opportunity to show students how its sources aren’t always valid and you can’t trust everything an AI tells you,” they said.