Google will make Search and Gemini opt-in for K–12 school accounts

Google plans to make Google Search, Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Gemini in Classroom opt-in for K–12 student accounts. All four products will be entirely off until school administrators explicitly turn them on, the company said.

That will put administrators in control of whether student accounts can access the listed services rather than leaving access on by default. Google has not given an exact rollout date. In its education product announcement, the company said it will share more specifics with schools in the coming months before the controls take effect.

Google paired the controls announcement with new Guided Learning features. The company said Guided Learning became globally available in Google Classroom on Nov. 3. According to Google, teacher-assigned activities are anchored in class material, and teachers receive real-time information about where a class may need more support.

Later in November, Google plans to pilot Guided Learning in Search at select U.S. schools. The company said the feature is designed to walk students through certain homework questions step by step instead of immediately providing an answer. Google plans to gather educator feedback during the pilot, then expand it to other school districts in the following months.

The announcement did not specify the administrator workflow, licensing requirements, regional scope or migration behavior for the new controls. It also did not say how many student accounts or school domains will be affected.