Google’s AI Search shuffle drives users to DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo usage – After Google rolled out its biggest Search redesign in decades at I/O on May 19—pushing AI features deeper into the main search box—DuckDuckGo reported a sharp jump in US installs, peaking at 37.6% week over week on May 26. DuckDuckGo executives say some users

On May 19, Google unveiled what it called its biggest Search overhaul in decades. By the days that followed. DuckDuckGo said its own app installs were climbing at a pace it described as unusually steep—suggesting some users weren’t just testing the new AI-heavy Search experience. but looking for a different default.

DuckDuckGo said US installs rose an average of 20.8% week over week in the seven days after Google’s May 19 announcements at its I/O conference. The growth didn’t stay steady. It peaked at 37.6% on May 26, according to DuckDuckGo.

The shift looked even sharper on iOS in the US. DuckDuckGo said installs climbed an average of 33% during the same period, reaching nearly 70% growth on May 25.

DuckDuckGo also pointed to behavior on a specific page built around user control. Visits to its noai.duckduckgo.com page—where AI features are disabled by default—rose 22.7% on average week over week.

The timing is difficult to ignore, though DuckDuckGo stopped short of claiming direct cause-and-effect. Even within its own data, the company stressed the figures are internal and that broader changes in search behavior are hard to measure.

At the heart of the dispute is what Google changed in Search. At I/O, Google announced a sweeping redesign that brings more AI features into the core search experience. The company is integrating capabilities from AI Mode directly into the main search box. letting users ask longer. conversational questions and upload images. videos. files. and browser tabs. Google is also adding AI-generated suggestions and follow-up conversations inside Search.

DuckDuckGo executives argued that some users are pushing back against that approach. In a statement, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg said, “Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out. We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want.”.

A steep usage spike like this, DuckDuckGo’s spokesperson Kamyl Bazbaz said, is “pretty unprecedented” in recent memory. “There hasn’t been a news event that created this kind of jump in a long time,” Bazbaz told Business Insider. “I would have remembered one.”

Still, DuckDuckGo’s internal numbers leave room for uncertainty. The company said its usage data is limited, and that broader shifts in search behavior remain difficult to measure—meaning the spike could reflect more than just Google’s latest feature push.

Even with that caveat. the contrast between what Google is putting into the main search experience and what DuckDuckGo is offering by default is clear in the way users are moving. When a privacy-focused alternative reports rapid growth right after Google folds AI into Search. it becomes more than a marketing story—it turns into a real question about how many users want the same experience. and how many want a choice that starts with a button they don’t have to hunt for.

DuckDuckGo Google Search AI Mode I/O noai.duckduckgo.com privacy search app installs iOS growth Gabriel Weinberg Kamyl Bazbaz