Google wants to give teenage students access to its Gemini generative AI model to help them in school. Today, the company revealed its plans to offer teens who use the company"s educational accounts the use of Gemini.
In a blog post, Google stated the support would be added to over 100 countries in English for students that meet Gemini"s minimal age requirements. In most of the world, that allows students 13 years and over to access Gemini. However, the minimal age in the European Economic Area, along with Canada, Switzerland, and the UK is 18 years of age and over.
Teens who use Gemini with their Google school accounts will also benefit from extra data protection. Google added:
To ensure schools are always in control, Gemini will be off by default for teens until admins choose to turn it on in the Admin console. After enabling it, admins can install the Gemini web app on Chromebooks so everyone has easy access.
In another blog post, Google offers more info on Gemini"s upcoming access for teen students. Google claims that it has tuned Gemini with algorithms and guardrails to keep content that is inappropriate for teens from showing up in replies from the AI models, including mentions of "illegal or age-gated substances."
If a teen student asks a fact-based question to Gemini, Google says the AI chatbot will automatically use its double-check response feature to see if there is "content across the web to substantiate its response."
Google also announced some other upcoming educational services and features. One of them is Google Vids, which will allow teachers to create videos for lessons, syllabus overviews, and more for their students.
Student will also be able to use Google Vids for things like video book reports and essays. A version of Google Vids that does not use generative AI will launch for Google Workspace for Education Plus accounts later in 2024. A version that does use AI to make videos will also be available via a Gemini for Google Workspace add on.