On Tuesday, May 19, Google used its I/O developer conference to announce a new “intelligent AI-powered Search box” that includes information agents and space for follow-up questions.
Google claims the new Gemini 3.5 Flash-powered AI Mode is “the biggest upgrade to our Search box in over 25 years.”
But, for reasons from privacy to hallucinations, some users have had enough and are opting for another search engine.
One week after Google’s news, DuckDuckGo announced that its U.S. installs had increased 30% week-over-week (WOW). The company is known for not tracking users and for helping to block other platforms from doing so.
The search engine offers a No AI option in which users can “search privately without AI.” The homepage claims that DuckDuckGo has turned off AI-assisted answers and removed AI-generated images.
By Sunday, visits to its No AI search page had risen 27.7% when compared to the previous week, DuckDuckGo tells Fast Company. The stat was reported earlier by TechCrunch.
The surge in numbers is quite a blatant response to Google’s announcement, according to DuckDuckGo’s interpretation. Over the last 12 months DuckDuckGo has held between 1.74% and 2.53% of the U.S. search engine market—declining to that lowest percentage in April.
“Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,” DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel 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.”
Fast Company has reached to Google for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
How does DuckDuckGo’s AI technology work?
None of this is to say that DuckDuckGo is vehemently against AI use. The company offers Duck.ai, a chatbot that lets users choose between six free LLM models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-5 mini and Meta’s Llama 4 Scout.
Another five models are available with DuckDuckGo’s VPN service for $10 per month or $99 for the year.
Though DuckDuckGo just provides access to these LLMs, it offers something else major: privacy. Duck.ai takes away all of your metadata, meaning your identity and IP address aren’t sent to the LLM provider.
Duck.ai also doesn’t use any of your prompts to train AI and has agreements to also stop any of the providers from using them. Plus, OpenAI, Meta, and more should delete your prompts within 30 days.
This story has been updated with DuckDuckGo’s response to our inquiry.