Schools have no control to stop Google AI Overviews
Only 42 percent of AI Overviews could be fully checked with their citations, and schools cannot stop them.
Google gives schools no control to stop AI Overviews, the AI answers at the top of Google Search results. At this time, schools use browser extensions and changed search addresses. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia made an extension. Google tells that in the next months it will add a student tool, Guided Learning.
How schools cope
The workarounds change the search address or the look of results. They can stop if Google changes how it sends results.
DuckDuckGo, a privacy search engine, wants schools as users. Its spokesperson Allison Goodman tells that it wants to make resources for teachers who want to change.
The numbers
A study by Washington University found that about 42 percent of AI Overviews were fully checked with citations.
A Google inspection tells that 3 in 4 teenagers use AI each week. About 1 in 2 check the answers. Google tells that it tests overviews carefully.
What is not known
Guided Learning tries to coach students to find information, and not to give the answer. Some researchers think it cannot be as good as a person who is a tutor. The source gives no test results.
Insight: Google answers a complaint from schools with more AI
Google gives no off control for AI Overviews in schools, but it adds Guided Learning. On 3 November, Google told that student accounts get Gemini and Search AI set to off. Administrators can set them to on. This reads as a move to keep Google in the classroom, while the court remedy for rivals is behind schedule. Leaders of schools must get an off control from Google.
Sources
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