Why is Google cutting off Search from AI-free schools? Here are some theories

NPR reports that Google will remove Search access from schools that disable AI Overviews, prompting criticism from parents, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Ed Markey. Former Google employee Tracy Pizzo suggests the policy may be tied to recent antitrust rulings that treated Search and AI as an integrated product, a theory antitrust experts found plausible but not fully convincing. Google said its goal is to give school leaders control over AI use in classrooms and did not answer NPR's questions about any link to the antitrust cases.