Google announced on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 a plan under which schools using its K-12 software that do not opt in to its AI tools would lose access to Google Search, and then said after criticism that the tools would be off by default, according to TechCrunch. TechCrunch’s reports of November 4 do not give a deadline or effective date for the plan.

What Google announced

  • The plan covers schools that use Google’s K-12 software. Schools that do not opt in to AI tools lose access to Google Search, and students at those schools see a message saying Search is unavailable, per TechCrunch.
  • Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president for education, told The New York Times that “Search and AI are deeply integrated.”
  • The AI products named are Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search, and schools can turn each on individually.
  • After the criticism, Google said the tools are off by default and that this responds to educator feedback. In a post from its News from Google account on November 3, it said its announcements give schools “more choice, not less,” and that schools “have told us they want control.”
  • Google says it is building a “Guided Learning” tool for student accounts in Search that walks students through a problem instead of giving the answer.

Criticism

  • Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called the plan “extortion” on X and wrote that “Google is threatening schools,” TechCrunch reports.
  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Google is “more concerned with forcing Gemini into schools than enabling students to succeed.”
  • Lina Khan, the former FTC chair, called the move anticompetitive and said it shows Google “remains unchastened” after courts found it liable for antitrust violations.
  • New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused Google of being a monopoly, saying, “No corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children.”

TechCrunch also reports that educators worry AI overviews could stop students from looking for answers themselves, and notes that millions of students use Chromebooks and Google education tools, so switching search engines is not simple.

DuckDuckGo’s pitch

In a second report, TechCrunch says DuckDuckGo is courting schools. Founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg posted on X a link to documentation for making DuckDuckGo a school’s default search provider and wrote, “get in touch for help.” Chief public affairs officer Kamyl Bazbaz wrote on X, “forcing AI on school children: how a monopolist behaves when they think people are powerless. Prove Google wrong.” In an email to TechCrunch, DuckDuckGo said Google could turn off AI in Search for schools if it chose to. DuckDuckGo offers instructions for switching a school’s default search engine, optional AI features such as Duck.ai and an AI search assistant, settings to disable AI features in search and in the browser, and a site, noai.duckduckgo.com, where AI-assisted answers, AI-generated images and AI feature suggestions are turned off. TechCrunch cites Google’s previously published figures of around 50 million Chromebooks in schools and more than 150 million Google Classroom users globally, and DuckDuckGo’s report earlier in 2026 that app installs were up 30%.

Sources and notes

This post is based on two TechCrunch reports published on November 4, 2026: Amanda Silberling’s (8:17 a.m. PST) on Google’s plan and the criticism, and Sarah Perez’s (11:29 a.m. PST) on DuckDuckGo. The quotations from Google, the senators, Khan, Mamdani and the DuckDuckGo executives are as TechCrunch reproduced them from X posts and The New York Times; Lens did not read Google’s announcement, the Times article or the posts directly. TechCrunch’s reports are not fully clear on how the default-off change relates to the original opt-in requirement for Search, and Lens did not resolve that. Lens did not contact Google or DuckDuckGo.

Image: an empty primary-school classroom with chairs stacked on desks in Kikinda, Serbia, by Dobrislava via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped. Stand-in photo; it shows no Google products and does not show the events described.