Google’s Gemini AI chatbot now available to younger students in Workspace – how it’s different

Summer may have just begun, but back-to-school season will be here in the blink of an eye. To help students be better prepared for the upcoming school year, Google updated Gemini to let more young scholars take advantage of its assistance. 

On Monday, Google announced that it will make Gemini available to teen students using their Google Workspace for Education accounts in English in over 100 counties in the coming months, free of charge for all educational institutions. 

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Previously, Gemini was only accessible to students 18 or older. With the update, teens ages 13 and up can access Gemini in the US, allowing younger students to partake of the same benefits. In other countries, Google’s minimum age requirement for each country would apply. 

According to Google, the decision to expand access to younger minds was not made lightly. Google shared that it worked with child safety and development experts to include several additional protections and limitations prioritizing safety. 

These include extra data protection for all education users, ensuring that Google will not use chat data to improve its AI models. Also, Google will identify content that may be inappropriate for teen users, and provide trigger guardrails that prevent inappropriate responses — such as illegal substances — from appearing. 

Learning resources customized for teens will also be available, including a new teen-friendly onboarding experience featuring an AI literacy video endorsed by ConnectSafely and FOSI — two organizations dedicated to promoting online safety — as well as resources and training to help students, educators, and parents use generative AI tools responsibly and effectively, as seen in the video below. 

Students and educators will have access to some education tools, including Learning Coach, a custom version of Gemini to help students build knowledge; OpenStax and Data Commons extensions; Google’s collaborative video-creating platform, Google Vids; new lesson planning and grading tools; and Read Along in Google Classroom.  

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