Google announced on Monday that it will now open its AI technology, Gemini, to teens using school accounts, in addition to the teens who already use personal accounts. The company is also giving educators access to the new tools in conjunction with the release.
Google says giving teens access to Gemini will help equip them with the skills they need to succeed in a future filled with generative AI. The company believes Gemini will help students become more confident learners through real-time feedback.
Google says it won't use chat data with students to train or improve AI models, and it's taking steps to make the technology available to students responsibly. Gemini has guardrails to prevent inappropriate answers, such as those related to illegal or age-restricted substances, from appearing, and it actively encourages teens to use the double-check feature to build information literacy and critical thinking skills.
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Gemini will be available to teen students in over 100 countries with Google Workspace for Education accounts in English. Gemini will be off by default for teen students until an administrator turns it on.
Additionally, Google announced the global launch of its Read Along in Classroom feature, which helps students build reading comprehension and get real-time support. Educators can assign reading activities to students based on their grade level and phonics skills. They can then get insights into students' reading accuracy, speed, and comprehension. Google is also piloting the ability to generate personalized stories tailored to students' needs.
Google is making it easy for educators to create, manage and share interactive lessons, and will also give them the ability to manually mark assignments as incomplete or complete, as well as perform bulk grading operations.