AI in Georgia Classrooms: Who’s Making the Rules?

This fall, Google built Gemini — an artificial intelligence assistant — into the classroom for K-12 students of all ages. With the rollout, a new Gemini tab in Google Classroom lets students seek AI assistance with assignments. More than 150 million students and teachers worldwide use Google Classroom to assign and turn in classwork. Google had previously released Gemini in Google Classroom for students 18 and over. But with the debut of AI into Google Classroom for K-12 student use, Georgia lawmakers need to regulate, at the very least, how it enters the classroom and the rules that districts set.

In a recent audit of June 2026, the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts conducted a survey of more than 13,000 Georgia K-12 public school teachers, and found that nearly 60% of surveyed teachers use generative artificial intelligence to assist with their teaching responsibilities. In the same survey, 52% of high school teachers reported at least half of their students use the technology, and teachers were concerned that “increased student use [of GenAI] made it more difficult to assess genuine learning, required more in‑class work to verify authorship, and called for new strategies to maintain academic honesty.” The survey was conducted before Google launched Gemini into Google Classroom, so student use is likely higher today, making it harder to evaluate students’ real learning capacity.

Georgia hasn’t sat by, but the Department of Education has taken a hands-off approach. The Georgia DOE laid out guidance for districts but doesn’t require them to adopt anything. The guidance recommends districts use AI in a supportive, non-high stakes manner. It isn’t necessarily bad that legislators in Atlanta aren’t determining which AI tools to use. However, the state should require every district to design AI policies for K-12 classrooms. Here’s why.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development recently reported that AI use is linked to a global decline in student reading skills. The OECD average performance hit its lowest level ever in math and reading, and researchers are making a link between AI usage and lower student performance: students who did not use AI to draft writing assignments outperformed students. The OECD’s director stated “[Students] are no longer good at reflection and critical thinking. A majority of 15-year-olds, when evidence and common sense collide, they go for common sense.” 

Google’s Gemini tab in Google Classroom is on by default for students whose district gave them Gemini access. Before the implementation into Google Classroom, students could use the Gemini app or Gemini Notebook for their schoolwork. If a district never turned on Gemini, students weren’t affected. However, for districts that had already allowed Gemini, a new tab for it appeared on its own in Google Classroom with no new vote or decision. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google’s own researchers warned about risks to children, including cognitive and emotional dependence and falling test scores. Regardless of the warning signs, the company pushed Gemini into K-12 classrooms. With the implementation, there has been no government oversight to approve the use of Gemini nor to notify parents.

Google is only an example of how AI can reach kids without a local decision. Teachers already pick their own tools for their lesson plans and practice, ranging from ChatGPT to MagicSchool. Students, on the other hand, are using a separate AI inside the platform. Teachers decide on their own, and students don’t decide at all. Districts should be deciding which AI tools belong in classrooms with input from teachers and parents.

The goal is not to restrict AI usage in K-12, but to make AI work in the right ways. The DOE recommends a vetted list of approved tools, parent input and notice and teacher training. These are recommendations, not requirements. If the state of Georgia wants to guarantee that students are not over-relying on AI for understanding content, then legislators should require districts to draft and publish specific frameworks for the way that schools utilize AI. This is not a one-sided or low-profile issue. U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D – CT) and Josh Hawley (R – MO) recently sent a letter to Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai expressing concern about Google’s “aggressive push of AI products to children in schools.”

How should Georgia establish direction for districts? Florida now requires districts to maintain a public list of approved AI tools and report the tools to the state. Districts must also train teachers and administrators on AI risks, limitations and safety, and notify parents when an AI instructional tool is approved. Districts must comply by July 1, 2027.  It’s time for Georgia to do the same. Districts should decide which AI tools help students learn the best and to train teachers and students to ensure AI is enhancing learning with AI and not relying on it. Students who are taught how to interpret and assess AI-generated information score better, according to the OECD.