Don't let Google decide what our kids' classrooms run on

I'm writing as a constituent who is deeply concerned about Google's growing, largely unchecked presence in our children's classrooms—and about the company's latest move to force its AI on New York students. Last August, Google switched on its AI chatbot Gemini for roughly 150 million K-12 students nationwide through Google Classroom—without asking schools, teachers, or parents. When districts objected, Google's only escape hatch would have also shut off Google search. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called it what it is: a monopolist handing educators an ultimatum—accept generative AI, or spend millions de-googling your district. New York shouldn't tolerate this. Our state already has strong student privacy law. Under Education Law § 2-d and Part 121, vendors must sign privacy agreements before touching student data—and NYSED has previously restricted student access to Google services like YouTube when Google refused to comply. Gemini should get no less scrutiny. Yet an October investigation by New York Focus found that more than half of our roughly 680 districts still have no formal AI policy at all, with many waiting for guidance from Albany. I'm asking you to close that gap: - Strengthen Education Law § 2-d so AI features cannot be enabled by default by any vendor—they should require affirmative district approval under an executed data privacy agreement; - Support Assembly Bill 9190, which would keep generative AI out of classrooms below ninth grade; - Direct NYSED to finally issue comprehensive AI guidance so districts aren't left exposed to unilateral corporate decisions. New York clearly has the capacity to legislate on AI; school technology has simply not kept pace. Whether you see AI in the classroom as a threat or a promise, we should all agree it deserves the same deliberation that any major change to our children's education gets—and that a vendor shouldn't get to bypass that deliberation with a settings change. I'd appreciate knowing where you stand.