#search · Cascadity

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AIAI #ai-overviews #education #gemini #google #schools #search

Google will switch off AI for K-12 students by default, but schools that ban AI entirely also lose Google Search

The New York Times report (republished by the Inquirer) has Google's education chief explaining the trade-off in his own words; CNBC covers the backlash and Google's reply.

Google announced on Nov. 3 that early next year it will turn off its AI tools in its software for K-12 students unless school administrators choose to turn them on, The New York Times reported (republished by The Philadelphia Inquirer). The catch: a school that restricts AI entirely also loses access to Google Search. "Search and AI are deeply integrated," Chris Phillips, Google's vice president for education, told the Times; students in such schools will see a message that search isn't available.

For districts that allow AI, Google says school accounts will get two search options from early 2027: search with AI Overviews and AI chats on, or search through Guided Learning, a student version of Gemini meant to walk students through problems without handing over answers. Google is also reversing an August change that had switched on AI features in Classroom by default.

CNBC reports that Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticized the policy, and former FTC chair Lina Khan called it a sign of "the danger of allowing an unregulated monopolist to control an essential service." In a post on X, Google said Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search are off by default and "schools are in control."

Read it at the source

The Philadelphia Inquirer (New York Times)Google will turn off search for schools that reject AI Independent ↗ CNBCGoogle responds to outrage over removing search in schools that ban AI Independent ↗

Cascadic Analysis 1

UndertowRole underspecification / the Doorman Problem

What hidden risk could pull against this, even if the news is good?

Guided Learning is meant to walk students through problems without handing over answers, a job a teacher or tutor does with a lot of unwritten judgment about when a student needs a hint, a push or a break. Schools that switch it on are automating part of that role from its written description. Meanwhile schools that want no AI at all lose Google Search too, so the choice Google says leaves "schools in control" comes bundled with things a district may not want to give up.

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Rabbit Holes 1

AI Overviews

After exploring Google will turn off search for schools that reject AI, to see what the school accounts would be getting, read about AI Overviews.

Explains Google's AI Overviews, the Gemini-generated answers shown at the top of search results since May 2024, and which sources a 2025 study found it cites most.

Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min

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MMMarket Movers #ai-spending #alphabet #earnings #free-cash-flow #google #search

Alphabet has its worst day since Google's 2004 IPO, falling nearly 13% after negative free cash flow and a rare miss

CNBC's two pieces lay out the miss line by line, the $9 billion cash-flow hole, the debt jump and why analysts disagree on what it means for search.

Alphabet reported third-quarter revenue of $127.58 billion, up 25% but short of the $128.22 billion analysts expected, and adjusted earnings of $2.67 a share against $3.02 expected. CNBC calls it the company's first top-and-bottom-line miss in nearly four years. Free cash flow was negative $9.07 billion, far below the negative $2.70 billion analysts expected, and long-term debt rose to $125.1 billion from $21.6 billion a year earlier.

Search revenue grew 12% to $63.35 billion, missing estimates; Alphabet's business chief said lower monetization in AI Mode was part of the reason. Google Cloud revenue more than doubled to $30.7 billion, ahead of forecasts. Alphabet kept its 2026 capital spending forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion and said spending will rise significantly in 2027.

The shares fell about 9% after hours on October 28 and closed down nearly 13% on October 29, which CNBC reports is the stock's worst day since Google went public in 2004, erasing roughly $500 billion in market value.

Read it at the source

CNBCAlphabet tanks nearly 13% for worst day ever, losing $500 billion in value Independent ↗ CNBCAlphabet sinks 10% as it holds 2026 capex unchanged, expects significant increase in 2027 Independent ↗

Cascadic Analysis 1

UndertowDelayed Consequence / False Success Problem

What hidden risk could pull against this, even if the news is good?

AI Mode can look like a win for users and still cost the business: Alphabet's business chief said lower monetization in AI Mode was part of why Search revenue missed estimates. Meanwhile capital spending stays at $195 billion to $205 billion this year and rises significantly in 2027, with free cash flow negative $9.07 billion and long-term debt up to $125.1 billion. The usage numbers arrive first; whether that spending pays off is measured years later.

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Rabbit Holes 1

Capital expenditure

After exploring Alphabet sinks 10% as it holds 2026 capex unchanged, expects significant increase in 2027, to see what the hyperscalers are actually spending on, read Capital expenditure.

Wikipedia explains capital expenditure as money a company spends to buy, maintain or improve fixed assets such as buildings and equipment, as opposed to day-to-day operating costs.

Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min

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CVCommunity Views #community #local-ai #reddit #search

r/LocalLLaMA: an open-source Mac app searches your files by what is in them, locally

A well-received example of running a new multimodal embedding model entirely on your own machine.

A developer shared DigUp, a free Mac app that runs Google DeepMind's EmbeddingGemma 2 locally through llama.cpp so you can search text, images, audio and video by description, such as "where they talk about sleep" in a podcast, and jump to the moment. The poster says the model download is 865 MB and indexing peaks under 2 GB of memory. The top reply praised it as how self-promotion should be done; others asked for a command-line version.

Read it at the source

Reddit (r/LocalLLaMA)Open-source Mac app that runs EmbeddingGemma 2 locally to search your files by what’s in them Independent ↗

Rabbit Holes 1

Semantic search

After exploring Open-source Mac app that runs EmbeddingGemma 2 locally to search your files by what’s in them, the idea it puts on a laptop is Semantic search.

Search by meaning and intent instead of literal word matches.

Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min

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