Google announced the change earlier this month, saying access to its AI-powered classroom tools, including Google Classroom and the Gemini Notebook research assistant, will be automatically turned off for K-12 students until administrators enable them. Chris Phillips, Google's vice president of education, told the New York Times that schools banning AI entirely "will not have access to search" because "search and AI are deeply engrained."

The policy lands hard in Chicago, where students rely on Google Search for homework and research and the district depends on Google Classroom, Drive and Docs. CPS has also invested heavily in Google Chromebooks, which are now tightly integrated with Gemini, the company's AI assistant. Finding replacements for that ecosystem would be a major undertaking.

A CPS spokesperson said the district has "not yet determined its response to Google's announced search engine restriction" and is "actively exploring all options to independently suppress" the search engine's default AI mode. "The District would like to continue to provide students with access to the Google search engine without the AI component," the statement said. "If such an arrangement can't be reached, the District will look to other search solutions."

A Google spokesperson said the company is updating its AI search features for classrooms to offer step-by-step instructions on solving problems rather than just "quick answers." The statement did not address the protest or answer questions about cutting off search.

The announcement drew swift backlash Wednesday from parents and advocacy groups who gathered outside Google's West Loop office. Illinois Families for Public Schools and the local chapter of Schools Beyond Screens are calling on CPS to enact a three-year moratorium on AI use in schools, develop a clear and consistent district policy, and limit screen time in all grades.

Kimberly Tobin, a parent of two young children at Burroughs Elementary, said Google's move felt "like an ultimatum" for school districts. "It's more influence than I would like tech companies to have over the types of products that are put in front of our kids," she said.

Tobin said research indicates that increased screen time and unrestricted AI use can affect students' grades and hinder skill development. "There's a pretty significant risk of fragmented attention when kids are doing most of their work on a screen," she said. She added that while the district blocks student access to ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, some approved education programs, such as the reading assistant Amira, rely on AI. "It's not like we don't want them to have access to any kind of technology, but we want it to be for a purpose," she said.

CPS does not provide students with direct access to popular generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, citing privacy and safety concerns. The district blocks those tools on student accounts, with the exception of Google Search's default AI mode, which officials say they are working to suppress. Parents can also opt their children out of AI tools, and many products restrict access for younger students.

Rather than a binding policy, CPS has issued guidance to educators for the past two years. First released in 2024, the guidelines were among the first in Illinois and have been updated several times while keeping core principles: AI should "augment, rather than replace, the essential role of educators," staff must review AI outputs for accuracy and bias, and confidential student information may only be entered into tools with district privacy agreements. Teachers are responsible for monitoring student use, and students must get permission before using AI for academic work and identify any AI-generated content in assignments.

This year the district published a "GenAI Playbook" suggesting teachers use AI to handle "busy work" such as drafting progress reports, incident logs and meeting minutes, freeing time to work with students. It also offers lesson ideas, such as turning a textbook chapter into an interactive podcast. The district has said it chose guidance over policy to stay flexible as the technology evolves.

New York City and Los Angeles, which have imposed strict restrictions on school AI use, face the same predicament. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said "no corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children."

For Chicago families, the dispute raises questions that go beyond one company: how much control a private vendor should have over the tools students use every day, and whether the district's piecemeal guidance is enough as AI spreads through classrooms. With Google's search cutoff looming next year, CPS officials say they are weighing their options — but have yet to say what they will do.