事件起因于Google近日针对K-12教育用户推出的新管理政策。根据相关安排，学校可以关闭Gemini等人工智能工具，但如果完全拒绝启用AI功能，学生账户也将失去Google搜索服务的访问权限。Google认为，搜索与人工智能能力已经深度融合，因此无法单独提供一个完全剥离AI功能的搜索版本。
这一决定迅速引发教育界和公众讨论。不少教师和学校管理者认为，学生在学习过程中仍然需要传统搜索工具，而不是由AI直接给出答案。批评者担心，过度依赖人工智能生成内容可能削弱学生独立研究和批判性思维能力。
面对争议，DuckDuckGo公开向学校抛出橄榄枝。公司创始人兼首席执行官加布里埃尔·温伯格通过社交媒体发文，向学校介绍如何将DuckDuckGo设置为默认搜索引擎，并表示公司愿意为教育机构提供迁移和部署方面的帮助。
DuckDuckGo首席公共事务官卡米尔·巴兹巴兹则发出了更直接的批评。他表示，强制让学生接受人工智能功能是一种典型的市场支配行为，并呼吁学校通过实际行动证明他们仍然拥有选择权。
DuckDuckGo在接受媒体采访时进一步表示，Google完全有能力为学校提供一个不包含AI功能的搜索版本，只是不愿意这样做。该公司认为，学生并不需要人工智能摘要、聊天机器人或自动生成内容，就能够完成基本的信息检索和学术研究工作。
为了吸引教育用户，DuckDuckGo特别强调其搜索引擎能够提供更传统的搜索体验。用户无需接收AI生成摘要，也不会被强制使用智能聊天工具。同时，DuckDuckGo允许用户自由开启或关闭AI相关功能，而不会因此失去搜索服务本身。
事实上，这场争议也反映了教育界当前对于人工智能工具的普遍分歧。一方面，越来越多的学生和教师已经将AI纳入日常学习与工作流程；另一方面，不少教育工作者仍希望能够保留一个不受生成式AI影响的学习环境。
Google此前曾推出名为“引导式学习（Guided Learning）”的新功能，希望通过逐步引导学生思考和解决问题，而非直接提供答案，以缓解教育界对AI的担忧。然而，对于部分学校而言，他们真正希望拥有的依然是完全关闭AI功能的选项。
在争议持续发酵后，Google方面进行了进一步说明。公司表示，新政策旨在给予学校更多控制权，而不是减少选择。按照Google的说法，Gemini、Gemini Notebook以及相关AI功能未来将默认关闭，学校可以根据自身需求逐项启用。
不过，对于那些希望保留搜索功能同时彻底排除AI内容的学校来说，问题仍未得到根本解决。正是在这样的背景下，DuckDuckGo正试图将自己塑造成教育市场的替代方案。随着越来越多学校重新评估AI在课堂中的角色，这家长期以隐私和去中心化理念著称的搜索引擎，也看到了挑战Google教育霸主地位的难得机会。
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The event was triggered by the recent new management policy launched by Google for K-12 education users. Under the arrangements, schools can shut down artificial intelligence tools such as Gemini, but if AI is completely denied, student accounts will lose Google Search access to permission. Google believes that search and artificial intelligence capabilities are deeply integrated and therefore cannot provide a search version that is completely detached from AI.
This decision quickly triggered a discussion in the educational community and the public. A number of teachers and school administrators believe that students still need traditional search tools in the learning process, rather than AI providing answers directly. Critics fear that over-reliance on artificial intelligence-generated content may weaken students ' ability to independently research and critically think.
Faced with the controversy, Duck Duckgo publicly threw olive branches at the school. The company ' s founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, wrote to schools through social media on how to set DuckDuckGo up as the default search engine and expressed the company ' s willingness to assist educational institutions with relocation and deployment.
The Chief Public Affairs Officer of Duck Duckgo, Kamir Bazbaz, made more direct criticism. He stated that forcing students to accept artificial intelligence functions was a typical market-driven behaviour and called on schools to prove through practical action that they still had the right to choose.
In an interview with the media, DuckDuckGo further stated that Google was fully capable of providing schools with a search version that did not contain AI functions, but was reluctant to do so. According to the company, students do not need artificial intelligence summary, chat robots or automatic content generation to complete basic information retrieval and academic research.
To attract educational users, DuckDuckGo places particular emphasis on the ability of its search engine to provide a more traditional search experience. Users do not need to receive AI to generate summary or be forced to use smart chat tools. At the same time, DuckDuckGo allows users to freely turn on or off AI-related functions without losing the search service itself.
Indeed, the controversy also reflects the prevailing differences in education over artificial intelligence tools. On the one hand, an increasing number of students and teachers have integrated AI into their daily learning and workflow programmes; on the other hand, many educators still wish to preserve a learning environment that is not influenced by the generation of AI.
Google had previously introduced a new feature called Guided Learning, which seeks to alleviate the concerns of the educational community about AI by gradually guiding students to think and solve problems rather than directly providing answers. For some schools, however, what they really want remains the option to completely shut down AI.
After the dispute continued to ferment, Google provided further clarification. The company indicated that the new policy was aimed at giving schools more control rather than less choice. According to Google, Gemini, Gemini Notebook and related AI functions will be closed by default in the future and schools can be opened on a case-by-case basis according to their needs.
However, for those schools that wish to retain the search function while completely excluding AI content, the problem remains unresolved. It is against this background that Duck Duckgo is trying to shape himself as an alternative to the education market. As more and more schools re-evaluate AI ' s role in the classroom, the search engine, long known as privacy and decentrization, also sees a rare opportunity to challenge Google ' s educational supremacy.
Auto-fetched and translated by AI Atlas. All rights belong to the original author.