that's not AI-free search, that's blocking the ai mode from search.

If google signs a contract to deliver AI-free search, it means they have to deliver a search product that doesn't use ai to generate any of the search results they show, not just inside the ai-mode box but anywhere on the page. Which obviously is not a thing they want to guarantee.

In general, schools don't care if "AI is used to generate" search results. They care if a chatbot is shoved in front of students' faces every time they google something. The issue is the UI, not whether AI is used anywhere along the chain.

you're probably mostly correct, but given the current discourse around AI there's definitely at least some subset of people involved in pushing schools to go AI-free that really mean entirely AI-free.

And if google delivered a chatbot-free experience to a school for a contract that said AI-free, they're looking for the inevitable outrage when somebody finds out their search results are being generated in an AI datacenter.

I don't think what schools "meant" when they said "no AI in search" will prevent expensive class action lawsuits.

Expensive for whom? Class action lawsuits are typically handled on contingency. If the lawsuit fails, the lawyers eat the time cost, and if the lawsuit succeeds, they are paid out of the funds paid by the wrongdoer.

This is surely true. It took me no time at all to vibecode an extension that blocks AI on Google and other sites. [1] I'm sure it's not bulletproof, and students might be able to find a way around it, but it avoids having a chatbot front and center by default.

1: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/beeline-search-avoi...

Please don't recommend people to download random extensions. It's a security risk.