DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search

Final week, after Google introduced its enormous overhaul to Search, I overheard a lady on the telephone saying she was switching to DuckDuckGo as a result of you possibly can “decide out of utilizing AI.”

“Google simply isn’t Google anymore,” she mentioned. It appears that evidently others had the identical concept.

At I/O, Google’s annual developer convention, the corporate mentioned its conventional checklist of blue hyperlinks is being changed by an AI agent that solutions queries, executes duties, and runs background monitoring brokers.

The backlash has been sharp.

Some have argued it would kill the open internet, whereas others shared considerations that AI overviews floor inaccurate responses and take away management from customers who may not wish to use AI. It additionally overcomplicates easy issues. Simply attempt to Google the phrase “disregard.”

In response to Google’s modifications, many have begun defecting to DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused different that has by no means been in a position to break previous Google’s dominance, accounting for less than round 2% of the U.S. search market.

Throughout Google’s search antitrust trial in 2023, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testified that Google’s unique default search contracts harmed its skill to pitch itself because the default on different browsers. 

“Google is force-feeding AI with no option to decide out,” Weinberg mentioned Tuesday in an announcement, referring to Google’s Search overhaul. “In consequence, their outcomes are getting worse, not higher. We wish to be the place that places customers in cost and permits them to determine how a lot or how little AI they need.”

Now evidently DuckDuckGo is starting to profit as shoppers flee AI.

DuckDuckGo mentioned U.S. app installs went up 18.1% week-over-week on common throughout the Could 20 to Could 25 interval, in comparison with Could 13 to Could 18. The corporate mentioned that development was sustained for six consecutive days and peaked at 30.5% on Could 25. On iOS, the speed of set up is even increased, with week-over-week development hitting a 33% common, peaking at 69.9%.

The search engine additionally mentioned visits to its AI-free search web page, noai.duckduckgo.com, averaged 22.7% WoW development, peaking at 27.7% on Could 24. The web page turns off each AI function, like AI-assisted solutions and AI-generated pictures, by default. 

The corporate mentioned the development is stronger within the U.S., and that DuckDuckGo continued to achieve customers over the Memorial Day weekend, when it often sees a dip in site visitors. 

DuckDuckGo gives its personal AI product known as Duck.ai. It’s free and doesn’t require customers to make an account however offers entry to fashions, together with Anthropic’s Claude 4.5 Haiku, Meta’s Llama 4 Scout, Mistral’s Small 3 24B, and OpenAI’s GPT-5 mini. All chats are personal as a result of DuckDuckGo strips the person’s IP handle earlier than requests attain mannequin suppliers, deletes conversations inside 30 days, and prevents chats from getting used for coaching.

“Not solely can we respect person alternative, but in addition person privateness,” Weinberg mentioned. “All the things you do in DuckDuckGo is personal; we don’t accumulate search histories or chats and nothing is used for AI coaching.”

DuckDuckGo additionally gives Search Help, which is analogous to Google’s AI overviews, and an AI Picture Filter that filters out AI-created pictures from search outcomes. 

Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo’s chief communications and coverage officer, mentioned each of these AI options are among the many firm’s hottest, regardless of their differing ethos. 

“Folks simply desire a alternative,” Bazbaz mentioned. 

Trendster has reached out to Google for remark.