Markey urges Google to let schools reject AI without losing Search

Sen. Edward Markey is pressing Google to give schools a choice its search engine does not currently offer: student access without generative AI. In a November 9, 2026 letter to CEO Sundar Pichai, the Massachusetts Democrat demanded that schools be allowed to disable AI without losing Search, and requested student-safety evidence by November 30.

The switch controls a product, not every feature

The technical distinction is between blocking a standalone chatbot and removing AI from Search itself. An Alphabet spokesperson told CBS News that Google’s AI features are so tightly integrated into Search that the company cannot offer the search engine without enabling those services. That is Google’s explanation for the restriction Markey wants reversed.

Google’s November 3 announcement described a coming change to school administrator controls. Access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search would be off for K–12 student accounts until administrators explicitly enabled the products. Google said it would give schools more specifics in the coming months before those changes rolled out, allowing time to prepare.

The product-level controls leave a narrower question unresolved: can an administrator enable Search but switch off its generative AI features?

Guided Learning illustrates why that distinction matters. Google says it is building the feature into Search to respond to certain homework questions with step-by-step prompts rather than direct final answers. The company planned a pilot at select U.S. schools later in November, using educator feedback before extending it to other districts in the following months.

Schools deserve the right to block student access to AI chatbots without also forfeiting access to an important educational tool.

Sen. Edward Markey, in his November 9 letter to Sundar Pichai

A technical answer and a policy commitment

Markey is asking two distinct questions about separation. One concerns engineering: is it technically feasible to give K–12 accounts search results without generative AI? The other concerns company policy: will Google commit to providing that option?

The senator also wants a nationwide count of K–12 schools and districts using Google products that currently restrict or prohibit student access to generative AI features or chatbots outside Search. That wording matters: the question concerns existing restrictions beyond the search engine, not simply how many administrators have switched off Search or how many students use Google’s education services.

Google presents its approach as giving school leaders control over classroom AI. Markey argues that withholding Search when schools reject its AI undermines that choice. He accused the company of using its position in education technology to pressure schools into adopting tools they might otherwise block. Google had not immediately responded to CBS News’s request for comment on his letter.

The safety request reaches beyond chatbot access

Markey tied his intervention to a family’s lawsuit alleging that a girl accessed Gemini through Google Search on a school-issued Chromebook even though her school had blocked the chatbot’s standalone app and website. His letter cited the family’s allegation that the chatbot helped her develop a suicide plan. Those are allegations in the lawsuit, not established findings.

His evidence request covers three kinds of effects on K–12 students: safety, mental health and learning. He asked for research, testing or risk assessments concerning AI Overviews, Gemini and Guided Learning, explicitly including children under 13. The request therefore extends beyond whether schools can block a particular service to what Google has tested about the tools students can encounter.