Disclaimer: It is an AI-generated image used for representative purpose only The biggest AI companies have spent the past few years fighting for office workers, coders and consumers. Their next battleground may be far more consequential: the classroom. Google this week rolled out a clutch of new learning features across Search and Gemini, including customised quizzes, interactive visualisations, study notebooks and 3D simulations. Students can upload class notes, PDFs and slides and have AI turn them into study material. Gemini is also getting a dedicated Student Hub. Google has also announced ‘Back to College’ offer, that gives one year of Google AI Plus at no cost to eligible college students across India. The benefits include free access to Gemini Omni, 2x higher usage limits in Gemini, 400GB of storage, and more. Students can also avail a bundle of Google AI Pro and YouTube Premium at up to 70% discount.OpenAI, meanwhile, has launched ChatGPT for Teens, aimed at users aged 13-17. Along with tighter safety controls, the product includes Study Mode, quizzes and prompts designed to stop students from simply asking the chatbot to complete their homework. Last year, the company launched ChatGPT Go at Rs 300 per month. The plan offers unlimited text chats with GPT-5.6 Luna and few other benefits.Coming back to Google and OpenAI tapping students, the timing can be seen as hardly accidental. Students are already using AI. The companies are now trying to make sure they use their AI. Research by Pew earlier this year found that 54% of US teenagers had used chatbots for schoolwork and 57% had used them to search for information. A Common Sense Media study found that 67% of children aged 9-17 had used AI chatbots, with ChatGPT the most frequently mentioned service.
Catch them young, keep them longer
There is a familiar Silicon Valley logic at work here: Habits formed early can be extremely difficult to break. Google became synonymous with internet search partly because an entire generation grew up “Googling” things. Microsoft spent decades pushing Office into schools and universities, knowing that students familiar with Word, Excel and PowerPoint would eventually carry those habits into workplaces.AI companies now have a similar opportunity. A student who uses Gemini to revise for an exam today could use it to write reports, analyse spreadsheets or prepare presentations when entering the workforce. A teenager accustomed to asking ChatGPT for explanations may eventually turn to it for coding, research, travel, financial information or work.That makes education strategically valuable even if teenagers themselves are not particularly lucrative customers. Google has already been courting college students with free access to paid Gemini features, while both Google and OpenAI are building products for schools and teachers alongside their student offerings.The prize, therefore, isn’t merely subscription revenue from students. It is becoming the default AI interface for a generation. And there is another advantage. Education gives generative AI companies something they badly need: a use case that can be explained easily.“Ask AI anything” can sound vague. “Use AI to prepare for tomorrow’s chemistry exam” does not. Quizzes, flashcards, personalised explanations and step-by-step tutoring are tangible applications that showcase exactly why somebody might want an AI assistant in the first place.
But, becoming the homework machine carries risks
There is an obvious problem with this strategy: AI can make completing schoolwork easier without necessarily making students better at learning. That distinction explains why both Google and OpenAI increasingly describe their products as tutors rather than answer machines.OpenAI’s Study Mode is explicitly designed to take students through problems using questions and step-by-step guidance instead of immediately producing an answer. Its teen product can also detect when a user appears to be trying to shortcut homework and encourage them to use Study Mode instead.Google is following much the same route, surrounding Gemini with quizzes, interactive exercises and learning tools rather than simply improving its ability to spit out answers. That shift matters because schools are still grappling with plagiarism and AI-assisted cheating. Around six in ten US teens surveyed by Pew said students at their schools use AI chatbots to cheat at least sometimes.
Then there is the much thornier and obvious question of safety
AI assistants are unusually intimate technology. Unlike a search engine, a chatbot holds conversations, remembers context and can appear remarkably human. Pew found that 12% of teens had already used chatbots for emotional support or advice.OpenAI’s new teen experience consequently places stronger restrictions around self-harm, sexual content and other sensitive subjects, while adding parental controls and age estimation. The launch comes amid intense scrutiny of chatbot safety and litigation involving interactions between AI systems and minors.For AI companies, that creates an unusual trade-off. Teenagers may be among their most valuable long-term users, but they are also among the users requiring the strongest protections.Will the strategy pay off? Almost certainly in terms of adoption. AI has already entered classrooms regardless of whether schools formally embrace it. Turning that behaviour into structured learning products is more sensible than pretending students will stop using chatbots.The bigger uncertainty is whether today’s winners will retain those users. Switching between AI assistants is far easier than moving between operating systems or social networks. There is little stopping a student from using Gemini for research, ChatGPT for explanations and another model for coding.So the race isn’t merely to get students using AI first. It is to become the AI they instinctively open first.FeatureChatGPT GoGoogle Gemini Student PlanPricingRs 399/month (after free tier)Free for 1 year (Google AI Plus), then Rs 399/monthCore AI AccessGPT‑5.6 Luna with unlimited text chatsGemini Omni with 2× higher usage limitsStudy ToolsStudy mode with step‑by‑step guidance, practice questionsStudent hub with study notebooks, diagnostic quizzes, tailored study plansFile & Image SupportMore uploads, larger documents, more image creation400 GB cloud storage, integration with Google Drive, Lens, and SearchMemory & ContextLonger memory, extended context windowDeep Research reports in Gemini Live, personalized learningExtra BenefitsVoice chats, image generation, web search, instant insightsDiscounted bundle: Google AI Pro + YouTube Premium (up to 70% off)AvailabilitySelect regionsOver 140 markets (excluding U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, etc.)VerificationStandard subscriptionStudent verification via SheerID required