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

Last week, aft Google announced its immense overhaul to Search, I overheard a pistillate connected the telephone saying she was switching to DuckDuckGo due to the fact that you tin “opt retired of utilizing AI.”

“Google conscionable isn’t Google anymore,” she said. It seems that others had the aforesaid idea.

At I/O, Google’s yearly developer conference, the institution said its accepted database of bluish links is being replaced by an AI cause that answers queries, executes tasks, and runs inheritance monitoring agents.

The backlash has been sharp.

Some person argued it volition kill the unfastened web, portion others shared concerns that AI overviews surface inaccurate responses and instrumentality distant power from users who mightiness not privation to usage AI. It besides overcomplicates elemental things. Just effort to Google the connection “disregard.”

In effect to Google’s changes, galore person begun defecting to DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused alternate that has ne'er been capable to interruption past Google’s dominance, accounting for lone astir 2% of the U.S. hunt market.

During Google’s search antitrust proceedings successful 2023, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testified that Google’s exclusive default hunt contracts harmed its quality to transportation itself arsenic the default connected different browsers. 

“Google is force-feeding AI with nary mode to opt out,” Weinberg said Tuesday successful a statement, referring to Google’s Search overhaul. “As a result, their results are getting worse, not better. We privation to beryllium the spot that puts users successful complaint and allows them to determine however overmuch oregon however small AI they want.”

Now, it seems that DuckDuckGo is opening to payment arsenic consumers fly AI.

DuckDuckGo said U.S. app installs went up 18.1% week-over-week connected mean during the May 20 to May 25 period, compared to May 13 to May 18. The institution said that maturation was sustained for six consecutive days and peaked astatine 30.5% connected May 25. On iOS, the complaint of instal is adjacent higher, with week-over-week maturation hitting a 33% average, peaking astatine 69.9%.

The hunt motor besides said visits to its AI-free hunt page, noai.duckduckgo.com, averaged 22.7% WoW growth, peaking astatine 27.7% connected May 24. The leafage turns disconnected each AI feature, similar AI-assisted answers and AI-generated images, by default. 

The institution said the inclination is stronger successful the U.S, and that DuckDuckGo continued to summation users implicit the Memorial Day weekend, erstwhile it usually sees a dip successful traffic. 

DuckDuckGo offers its ain AI merchandise called Duck.ai. It’s escaped and doesn’t necessitate users to marque an account, but provides access to models, including 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 backstage due to the fact that DuckDuckGo strips the user’s IP code earlier requests scope exemplary providers, deletes conversations wrong 30 days, and prevents chats from being utilized for training.

“Not lone bash we respect idiosyncratic choice, but besides idiosyncratic privacy,” Weinberg said. “Everything you bash successful DuckDuckGo is private, we don’t cod hunt histories oregon chats and thing is utilized for AI training.”

DuckDuckGo besides offers Search Assist, which is akin to Google’s AI overviews, and an AI Image Filter that filters retired AI-created images from hunt results. 

Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo’s main communications and argumentation officer, said some of those AI features are among the company’s astir popular, contempt their differing ethos. 

“People conscionable privation a choice,” Bazbaz said. 

TechCrunch has reached retired to Google for comment.