What you need to know
- Google announced that it's preparing to bring Gemini to teen students using school accounts in "over 100 countries."
- Gemini will lend its AI brains, but with guardrails to ensure teens don't receive inappropriate responses and with the ability to fact-check its responses.
- Educators are preparing to pick up 16 new add-ons for Classrooms, AI tools for Read Along, and more for Chromebooks.
Today (June 24), Google announced that it's bringing its AI model Gemini to teen students and educators.
According to a Keyword post, the company detailed that "in the coming months," teens at the minimum age requirement (13) can chat with Gemini through their school account. Google states that Gemini's capabilities will be disabled by default, but school admins can enable it through the "Admin console."
Moreover, Gemini's services for teens in school will arrive as a free feature in "over 100 countries."
A subsequent post states students using Gemini through a school account will experience safeguards to block inappropriate content. Google states Gemini will filter out "illegal or age-gated substances" from appearing in the results it delivers. Additionally, the AI will run a fact-check on a response when asked for the first time.
The AI will then encourage students to run the double-check function when asking a "fact-based" question.
Google is preparing to roll out a custom version of LearnLM called "Coach" for students. The feature is detailed as a step-by-step tool to help students build their knowledge of various subjects through quizzes and games.
A safer Google Chat is en route, with the company detailing that admins can soon restrict students from initiating DMs and creating spaces.
Google is also looking to bolster Read Along in Classrooms by implementing AI. The post states that educators will soon be able to assign reading activities to their students based on grade or phonics skills. With the help of AI, educators will gain insights about a student's "reading accuracy, speed, and comprehension."
Soon, Google hopes to bring AI-generated personalized stories for educators to give to their students. Those who're interested can sign up for its pilot program.
Google Vids is set to bring a generative AI-less variant for educators and students through Workspace for Education Plus "later this year."
Chromebooks and Workspace for Education will soon gain 16 new Classroom add-ons. These additions include Kami, Quizizz, Screencastify, Boom Learning, and more. The company is also bringing in a few more partners through its app licensing program, such as Canva, codeSpark, Equatio, Genially, Sora, and Sumo.
Google then reiterated its recent announcement of bringing Gemini to Chromebooks and its Chromebook Plus. Consumers can expect a few features like Help Me Write, Generative AI Wallpaper, and Magic Editor in Google Photos. However, Google teases that "Read Aloud" is on its way for Chromebooks through the Chrome browser through the reading mode.
