DuckDuckGo’s “No – After Google unveiled an “intelligent” AI Search box at its May 19 I/O developer conference, DuckDuckGo reported sharp week-over-week growth for its U.S. No AI search option—citing privacy concerns and a lack of opt-out controls.
On the week after Google’s May 19 I/O developer conference, one corner of the internet felt the shift immediately: DuckDuckGo says visits to its “No AI” search page jumped by 27.7% compared with the previous week.
The timing is hard to miss. At Google’s I/O event, the company announced a new “intelligent AI-powered Search box” that includes information agents and space for follow-up questions. Google also framed its Gemini 3.5 Flash-powered AI Mode as “the biggest upgrade to our Search box in over 25 years.”
DuckDuckGo’s response came fast. One week after Google’s news, the privacy-focused search service said its U.S. installs increased 30% week-over-week. The company is known for not tracking users and for helping block other platforms from doing so.
On DuckDuckGo’s side, the product answer is direct. The homepage for its No AI option says users can “search privately without AI.” It also states that DuckDuckGo has turned off AI-assisted answers and removed AI-generated images.
DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, linked the surge in visits to Google’s announcement. “Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,” Weinberg said in a statement via email. “As a result, their results are getting worse, not better. We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want.”.
Over the last 12 months, DuckDuckGo said it has held between 1.74% and 2.53% of the U.S. search engine market, declining to the lowest percentage in April.
The scramble for a control switch—opt in. opt out. or none at all—runs through this story from both directions. Google is pushing a new AI-powered search experience with follow-up questions and “intelligent” agents. while DuckDuckGo is measuring user behavior by how many people choose not to have AI in the results at all. even as the broader debate about privacy and hallucinations grows louder.
Google did not stay silent on the narrative, but it did not provide a quote in the reporting. Fast Company reached out to Google for comment and said it would update the post if it heard back.
DuckDuckGo is not positioning itself as an anti-AI company overall. It offers Duck.ai. a chatbot where users can choose between six free LLM models. including OpenAI’s GPT-5 mini and Meta’s Llama 4 Scout. Another five models are available through DuckDuckGo’s VPN service, priced at $10 per month or $99 per year.
What DuckDuckGo says it brings to the table is privacy controls around those LLM interactions. The company says Duck.ai removes users’ metadata—meaning a user’s identity and IP address aren’t sent to the LLM provider. It also says Duck.ai doesn’t use users’ prompts to train AI. and that it has agreements to stop the providers from using the prompts. DuckDuckGo adds that OpenAI, Meta, and others should delete prompts within 30 days.
This story was updated with DuckDuckGo’s response to an inquiry.
DuckDuckGo No AI Google I/O intelligent AI-powered Search box Gemini 3.5 Flash Gemini 3.5 Flash-powered AI Mode search market share privacy hallucinations Duck.ai LLM models GPT-5 mini Llama 4 Scout