Google launches Gemini for schools, who are already terrified of AI

The 2025 school year may be ending, but students who return in the fall will have a new AI tutor: Google Gemini for Education.

At the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, Google launched its new AI teaching tool.

“Gemini for Education provides default access to our premium AI models, soon with significantly higher limits than what consumers get at no cost, plus enterprise-grade data protection and an admin-managed experience as a core Workspace service — all included in your Workspace for Education plan free of charge,” Google said.

Google is pitching the ability for educators to roll their own “Gems,” or AI experts, which can help students learn new concepts. Google NotebookLM also provides a repository for students to upload documents into and then hear an audio summary, via Audio Overviews. Google recently added Video Overviews, too, which adds a visual element.

Google Gemini for Education will be free, though Google is offering a paid Google Workspace with Gemini add-on for $18 per user per month, though with some educational discounts. That program includes the ability to include some 8-second video clips using the Veo 3 text-to-video generator, which will help teachers up their meme game to connect with kids.

Of course, there’s a bit of irony in all of this, since teachers are mortally afraid of AI’s ability to help their students cheat — even as they don’t want to deny them the ability to use it, either. It’s a big moral quandary, especially when it comes to testing. The upshot last year was that teachers might use AI to teach, but the safest way to avoid AI cheating was to go back to pen and paper at test time.