Submission + - Senator to Google: Don't Be Evil 1
theodp writes: Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday urging Google to let schools disable the AI features in Search. Markey's request came after Google said it would not turn off AI tools for K-12 students using its search engine.
From Markey's letter: "Dear Mr. Pichai, I am alarmed by Google’s policy to block access to Google Search on K-12 student accounts at schools that want to opt out of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) services, including Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. This policy places schools in an impossible position: either give students access to potentially harmful technology or lose a critical educational research tool. Despite the increasing concern over AI chatbots’ risks to minors, Google is using its dominant position in the education technology sector to push AI chatbots onto children and teenagers, whether or not their schools believe the technology is safe. This is unacceptable. I urge Google to reverse this policy. [...] Google’s dominant position in education technology makes this ultimatum particularly concerning. Although Google has a right to create and offer new educational tools, it should not use its dominant market position to force schools to adopt them."
In closing, Markey asks for a response in writing to several uncomfortable questions, including one about Google's assertions that "Search and AI are deeply integrated", which is eerily reminiscent of the "Windows and IE are deeply integrated" assertion Microsoft made in United States vs. Microsoft. "Is it technically feasible for Google to provide K-12 student accounts with Google Search results that exclude AI Overviews?" Markey asks. Markey might be interested in knowing that corporations and other organizations have similar beefs with Google on its unwillingness to separate AI and Search, and have taken matters into their own hands, resorting to the use of undocumented features, proxies, and other techniques — including potentially privacy-invasive ones — to block employee access to Gemini and AI mode Search.
In a September 2005 meeting of the White House AI Education Taskforce, Pichai "highlighted [Google's] efforts to help American high schoolers succeed in the AI era, including our recent $1 billion commitment to support education and job training programs in the U.S. and offering Gemini for Education to every high school in America." Addressing First Lady Melania Trump, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and other Cabinet officials, Pichai noted: "This includes $3 million to [tech-backed nonprofit] code.org [since rebranded to CodeAI] to transform its [K-12] curriculum and integrate new AI features."
From Markey's letter: "Dear Mr. Pichai, I am alarmed by Google’s policy to block access to Google Search on K-12 student accounts at schools that want to opt out of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) services, including Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. This policy places schools in an impossible position: either give students access to potentially harmful technology or lose a critical educational research tool. Despite the increasing concern over AI chatbots’ risks to minors, Google is using its dominant position in the education technology sector to push AI chatbots onto children and teenagers, whether or not their schools believe the technology is safe. This is unacceptable. I urge Google to reverse this policy. [...] Google’s dominant position in education technology makes this ultimatum particularly concerning. Although Google has a right to create and offer new educational tools, it should not use its dominant market position to force schools to adopt them."
In closing, Markey asks for a response in writing to several uncomfortable questions, including one about Google's assertions that "Search and AI are deeply integrated", which is eerily reminiscent of the "Windows and IE are deeply integrated" assertion Microsoft made in United States vs. Microsoft. "Is it technically feasible for Google to provide K-12 student accounts with Google Search results that exclude AI Overviews?" Markey asks. Markey might be interested in knowing that corporations and other organizations have similar beefs with Google on its unwillingness to separate AI and Search, and have taken matters into their own hands, resorting to the use of undocumented features, proxies, and other techniques — including potentially privacy-invasive ones — to block employee access to Gemini and AI mode Search.
In a September 2005 meeting of the White House AI Education Taskforce, Pichai "highlighted [Google's] efforts to help American high schoolers succeed in the AI era, including our recent $1 billion commitment to support education and job training programs in the U.S. and offering Gemini for Education to every high school in America." Addressing First Lady Melania Trump, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and other Cabinet officials, Pichai noted: "This includes $3 million to [tech-backed nonprofit] code.org [since rebranded to CodeAI] to transform its [K-12] curriculum and integrate new AI features."
