\n<\/p>\n
Last week, after Google announced its huge overhaul to Search<\/a>, I overheard a woman on the phone saying she was switching to DuckDuckGo because you can \u201copt out of using AI.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGoogle just isn\u2019t Google anymore,\u201d she said. It seems that others had the same idea. <\/p>\n At I\/O, Google\u2019s annual developer conference, the company said its traditional list of blue links is being replaced by an AI agent that answers queries, executes tasks, and runs background monitoring agents.<\/p>\n The backlash has been sharp. <\/p>\n Some have argued it will kill the open web<\/a>, while others shared concerns that AI overviews surface inaccurate responses<\/a> and take away control from users who might not want to use AI. It also overcomplicates simple things. Just try to Google the word \u201cdisregard<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to Google\u2019s changes, many have begun defecting to DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused alternative that has never been able to break past Google\u2019s dominance, accounting for only around 2% of the U.S. search market<\/a>.<\/p>\n During Google\u2019s search antitrust<\/a> trial in 2023, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testified <\/a>that Google\u2019s exclusive default search contracts harmed its ability to pitch itself as the default on other browsers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGoogle is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,\u201d Weinberg said Tuesday in a statement, referring to Google\u2019s Search overhaul. \u201cAs a result, their results are getting worse, not better<\/a>. We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want.\u201d<\/p>\n Now it seems that DuckDuckGo is beginning to benefit as consumers flee AI.<\/p>\n DuckDuckGo said U.S. app installs went up 18.1% week-over-week on average during the May 20 to May 25 period, compared to May 13 to May 18. The company said that growth was sustained for six consecutive days and peaked at 30.5% on May 25. On iOS, the rate of install is even higher, with week-over-week growth hitting a 33% average, peaking at 69.9%.<\/p>\n The search engine also said visits to its AI-free search page, noai.duckduckgo.com<\/a>, averaged 22.7% WoW growth, peaking at 27.7% on May 24. The page turns off every AI feature, like AI-assisted answers and AI-generated images, by default.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company said the trend is stronger in the U.S., and that DuckDuckGo continued to gain users over the Memorial Day weekend, when it usually sees a dip in traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n DuckDuckGo offers its own AI product called Duck.ai<\/a>. It\u2019s free and doesn\u2019t require users to make an account but provides access to models<\/a>, including Anthropic\u2019s Claude 4.5 Haiku, Meta\u2019s Llama 4 Scout, Mistral\u2019s Small 3 24B, and OpenAI\u2019s GPT-5 mini. All chats are private because DuckDuckGo strips the user\u2019s IP address before requests reach model providers, deletes conversations within 30 days, and prevents chats from being used for training.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only do we respect user choice, but also user privacy,\u201d Weinberg said. \u201cEverything you do in DuckDuckGo is private; we don\u2019t collect search histories or chats and nothing is used for AI training.\u201d<\/p>\n DuckDuckGo also offers Search Assist, which is similar to Google\u2019s AI overviews, and an AI Image Filter that filters out AI-created images from search results.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo\u2019s chief communications and policy officer, said both of those AI features are among the company\u2019s most popular, despite their differing ethos.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople just want a choice,\u201d Bazbaz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n TechCrunch has reached out to Google for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n