Google Gemini coming soon to teen students in over 100 countries
Google announced that it will soon make its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Gemini available to teenage students on Monday. Until now, Gemini was only available to users above the age of 18. With this move, the tech giant will now let students access the AI capabilities of its own large language model (LLM). The company said that the feature will be rolled out to students in over 100 countries in the coming months. Gemini chatbot for students will also come with several guardrails to protect them from harmful content.
Gemini AI for teenage students offers features
In a blog postGoogle stressed that it has released a responsible Gemini experience for teens using their personal Google accounts. The company said it consulted with experts in child safety and development to ensure the chatbot is safe for underage users.
Continuing on from that, Google said that Gemini will be available to teenage students in the coming months. Students will need to meet the minimum age requirements set by Google. These features will be available through Google Workspace for Education accounts, which are only available to educational institutions that meet the basic requirements. Students can use Gemini for free with their Education account. Gemini will only be available in English for these users.
The company said it is also taking several steps to ensure the AI chatbot is safe to use and can serve a supportive role for students. First on the list is improved admin controls. Teens will only be able to use Gemini after admins enable it through the admin console. It remains disabled by default.
In India and the US, Gemini AI will be available to students above the age of 13 who are enrolled in an institution that has access to Google Workspace for Education. Other countries can check the minimum age here.
In terms of features, Google said Gemini has been tuned to filter out content that may be inappropriate for teenage students. This version of the chatbot will also come with guardrails to prevent inappropriate comments from appearing. A new onboarding experience has also been added, including an AI Literacy video, to help students understand Gemini, its purpose and what they can use it for. You can watch the video below.
Furthermore, a Learning Coach feature is also being added. It is a customized version of Gemini powered by LearnLM. This feature helps teenage students study step by step, provides practice activities, and helps students find solutions using their own thinking.
Additionally, the tech giant announced the release of Read Along in Google Classroom. The feature is designed to help students build reading skills and provide real-time support. It will allow teachers to assign reading activities to students based on grade level or phonics skills, and then later gain insight into their reading skills. The feature is launching globally in English. The company also plans to introduce Google Vids, a video creation platform, to Google Workspace Education Plus accounts later this year. To start, the feature will be available without AI, but the AI version can be accessed with a Gemini for Google Workspace add-on.
