Key Takeaways
- A trainer seen that a number of college students who had struggled earlier in 2025 all of the sudden started submitting A-level work after a Google function made AI solutions simpler to entry throughout on-line assignments.
- The function, related to Google Lens, let college students seize solutions from proper inside classroom platforms, which raised issues about honesty and actual studying.
- After faculties and universities raised complaints, Google pulled the function from sure training pages whereas it reviewed how the device was getting used.
- Faculties can preserve AI helpful — and honest — in the event that they set clear guidelines, give academics management, and clarify to college students why doing the work nonetheless issues.
How Google Lens entered the classroom
Earlier in 2025, a highschool trainer realized one thing was off: a number of college students who had been incomes common or low scores have been all of the sudden handing over high work.1 Assignments had not modified. The teachings had not modified. What had modified was the browser. A Google function tied to Google Lens now made it doable to pick a query on the display screen and ship it to Google’s AI for assist — all with out leaving the quiz or studying web page.1,2
For academics, that created a brand new downside. If a scholar can open a quiz, faucet a built-in device, and get an AI-generated reply proper there, the trainer can’t simply inform who really understands the fabric and who’s simply passing alongside what the system returned.
What the Google Lens shortcut really did
Google Lens started as a visible search device that would learn textual content, translate, or determine objects.3 Google later related this expertise to Chrome in order that, on sure training pages, college students may:
1. Open a quiz or course web page.
2. Click on the Lens-style “assist” bubble within the browser.
3. Spotlight the precise query.
4. Get an AI-written response in a sidebar.
As a result of the reply appeared beside the project, college students didn’t have to repeat, swap tabs, or go to a separate AI web site. A number of academics instructed reporters this made it “a simple technique to cheat on digital assessments with out typing a immediate.” It didn’t have to mirror a faculty’s reply key to trigger bother — it solely wanted to provide a solution ok to submit on a primary query. That was sufficient to boost alarms.2,4
Why educators stated the function went too far
Academics have been already coping with college students utilizing AI on their very own time. This was totally different. It seemed like a traditional Google function, it appeared proper on high of studying platforms similar to Canvas or bCourses, and it appeared throughout graded work.4 That mixture — in-browser, on a faculty web page, throughout evaluation — is what many educators felt crossed a line.
Some universities, together with Berkeley, publicly warned instructors that Chrome’s “homework assist” may floor throughout quizzes, and shortly after that, Google eliminated the function from these pages.2 That response exhibits Google heard the priority and was prepared to pause it in training environments.4
How sudden AI solutions can skew grades
Grades are supposed to inform us who understood the lesson, who wants observe, and who wants a unique sort of help. When a number of college students in a single class all of the sudden flip in good or near-perfect solutions proper after a browser replace, the sign breaks.1 Academics can’t inform whether or not their instruction lastly landed or whether or not a device simply made the project simpler.
This isn’t solely about dishonest. It’s about what occurs to studying when the quickest path is to ship the query to AI. College students who depend on on the spot solutions don’t get suggestions on the steps they missed. Over time, that may go away them weaker in topics that stack, like math, languages, and science studying.
There may be additionally an fairness layer. A scholar on a private Chromebook with Google Lens accessible might be able to pull AI assist immediately. A scholar on a stricter, district-managed machine might not. Meaning two college students in the identical class may face very totally different ranges of temptation — and really totally different probabilities to get straightforward factors.
A greater means to make use of AI in schoolwork
We would not have to take away AI from studying to repair this. A extra balanced method would appear like this:
1. Clear zones for AI
Academics and faculties ought to identify the areas the place AI is allowed — examine guides, background explanations, translation, vocabulary constructing — and the areas the place it isn’t, similar to timed quizzes, unit assessments, and writing assignments that measure authentic considering.
2. Instructor and admin management
Faculties ought to have the choice to show off in-browser AI shortcuts throughout assessments. That retains digital assessments in keeping with paper assessments.
3. Scholar steerage
College students ought to hear, in plain language, that copying AI throughout a quiz can harm them later — in school placement, in certifications, or in jobs the place they really need to know the fabric.
4. Clear AI design
When AI helps, the device ought to say so clearly and, when doable, present sources.5 That helps college students study to evaluate whether or not an AI reply is dependable.
Why the title matches the difficulty
This actually is a “Google Lens impact.” The device itself was not constructed to wreck grades. However when a robust, on-screen AI reply system is dropped into the center of faculty platforms, it could possibly bend how homework and quizzes work. That’s precisely what academics reported, and it’s why faculties pushed again.1,2,4,5
Citations
- Jones, Carolyn. “His College students Immediately Began Getting A’s. Did a Google AI Device Go Too Far?” The Markup, 9 Nov. 2025.
- “Google Chrome ‘Homework Assist’ in bCourses Quizzes.” Analysis, Instructing, and Studying, College of California, Berkeley, 11 Sept. 2025.
- “Google Lens – Search What You See.” Google.
- “Academics Bought Mad a few Cheat Button in Chrome. Now Google’s Pausing It.” The Washington Publish, 18 Sept. 2025.
- “11 Methods Google AI Can Assist Educators and College students in 2025.” Google Weblog, 22 Jan. 2025.
