Bernie Sanders Calls Google’s AI-in-Schools Move “Extortion”

On Nov. 3, US Senator Bernie Sanders accused Google of extortion after it announced that Search and AI tools for K-12 student accounts would be off by default until school administrators activate them. Google described the change as giving schools more control, while critics said AI features are built into Search, so schools cannot enable Search without AI. Google education vice president Chris Phillips said schools that reject AI would not get Search access; hours later, Google said schools could enable Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search individually. Sanders had called for a full AI pause in September.