Chicago parents protest Google's AI school policy
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Chicago parents concerned about AI will join activists across the nation Wednesday to protest "Big tech bullies in our schools" at local Google headquarters.
What happened: Google set off a firestorm — and then partially backtracked — last week when it announced it would take away Google search from any school that opts out of its artificial intelligence products like Gemini.
Why it matters: CPS, like many districts, has integrated Google technology deeply into its infrastructure. And the move appeared aimed at leveraging that dependence.
The blowback: "Google is using its search monopoly to coerce schools into adopting AI," former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said on social media.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called it "extortion" and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said "no corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children."
The upshot: In the wake of the backlash, Google retreated on the Gemini part, but it still won't shut off generative AI Overviews on its school version of Google search.
- Schools must take the generative AI version or no Google search at all.
What they're saying: "It's fundamentally problematic that a for-profit company is dictating the terms of how technology is operating in our schools and how safe or protective or commercially exploitative it is," Cassie Creswell of Illinois Families for Public Schools (IFPS) tells Axios.
State of play: At least 11 people who just won school board seats have signed a pledge to support a 3-year generative AI moratorium in CPS, citing a 2026 Brookings report that concluded, "the [current] risks of utilizing generative AI in children's education overshadow its benefits."
- New York and Los Angeles public schools have already enacted AI moratoriums to different degrees. But not CPS, which currently employs at least one AI-assisted reading program.
- CPS did, however, scrap a plan earlier this year to use Gemini in high school classrooms.
- District officials tell Axios they haven't yet determined their response to Google's policy.
Points of concern: 2026 data shows that students are increasingly using AI and its overviews to do their homework, write their essays and jump to answers that have been found to be inaccurate about 10% of the time.
- Critics note this reduces the need to build research skills required to arrive at the correct answers and check their accuracy.
The other side: Google representatives didn't respond to questions about the protest or why the company won't offer AI-free search to schools. Instead, it referred Axios to a blog post that fails to address the question.
- While users can disable AI responses on individual queries by typing -ai, Google provides no mechanism to turn off AI Overviews indefinitely.
- When Axios asked why in 2025, Google representative Mara Harris said "people find AI Overviews "much more helpful… — so helpful that they come back and search on Google more often."
What's next: IFPS activists will rally at Mary Bartelme Park at 3pm Wednesday and protest outside Google's Fulton Market office at 4pm.
- Reelected CPS board member Karen Zaccor tells Axios she is working on a resolution about generative AI, screen time and privacy with parents groups including IFPS and Schools Beyond Screens to present to the board in coming months.