Final week, after Google introduced its large overhaul to Search, I overheard a girl on the cellphone 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 stated. It appears that evidently others had the identical concept.
At I/O, Google’s annual developer convention, the corporate stated its conventional listing 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 web, whereas others shared issues that AI overviews surface inaccurate responses and take away management from customers who may not need to use AI. It additionally overcomplicates easy issues. Simply attempt to Google the phrase “disregard.”
In response to Google’s adjustments, 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 under 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 capacity to pitch itself because the default on different browsers.
“Google is force-feeding AI with no approach to decide out,” Weinberg stated Tuesday in an announcement, referring to Google’s Search overhaul. “Because of this, their results are getting worse, not better. We need 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 stated U.S. app installs went up 18.1% week-over-week on common through the Could 20 to Could 25 interval, in comparison with Could 13 to Could 18. The corporate stated that progress was sustained for six consecutive days and peaked at 30.5% on Could 25. On iOS, the speed of set up is even greater, with week-over-week progress hitting a 33% common, peaking at 69.9%.
The search engine additionally stated visits to its AI-free search web page, noai.duckduckgo.com, averaged 22.7% WoW progress, peaking at 27.7% on Could 24. The web page turns off each AI characteristic, like AI-assisted solutions and AI-generated photos, by default.
The corporate stated the development is stronger within the U.S., and that DuckDuckGo continued to realize customers over the Memorial Day weekend, when it normally sees a dip in site visitors.
DuckDuckGo presents its personal AI product referred to as Duck.ai. It’s free and doesn’t require customers to make an account however supplies access to models, 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 consumer’s IP deal with earlier than requests attain mannequin suppliers, deletes conversations inside 30 days, and prevents chats from getting used for coaching.
“Not solely will we respect consumer selection, but in addition consumer privateness,” Weinberg stated. “Every thing you do in DuckDuckGo is personal; we don’t acquire search histories or chats and nothing is used for AI coaching.”
DuckDuckGo additionally presents Search Help, which is analogous to Google’s AI overviews, and an AI Picture Filter that filters out AI-created photos from search outcomes.
Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo’s chief communications and coverage officer, stated each of these AI options are among the many firm’s hottest, regardless of their differing ethos.
“Individuals simply need a selection,” Bazbaz stated.
TechCrunch has reached out to Google for remark.
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