Google’s louder push into AI search is already pushing some people out the door. DuckDuckGo says downloads jumped after Google rolled out a more AI-driven search experience, with users apparently rediscovering that a list of links can feel refreshingly low-drama when compared with summaries, chat prompts, and machine-generated answers.
DuckDuckGo says app installs in the US rose after Google’s AI-heavy search rollout, and it is seeing more interest in its ”no AI” search mode too. For users looking to avoid AI summaries, DuckDuckGo is positioning itself as the simpler alternative.
The timing is awkward for Google and convenient for its rivals. As search starts looking less like search and more like a conversation with a model, a growing slice of users is treating that as a feature to avoid rather than embrace. That reaction is not exactly shocking: every time a platform hides the old interface behind a shiny assistant, someone inevitably goes hunting for the off switch.
DuckDuckGo installs climbed after Google’s rollout
DuckDuckGo said app installs in the US rose an average of 18.1% a week from 20 to 25 May versus the previous week, with one day hitting 30.5% growth. On iPhone, the surge was even sharper: average weekly downloads were up 33%, and one day nearly reached 70%.
The company also saw more traffic to its ”no AI” search mode, which strips out AI summaries, automatically generated images, and other AI elements. That version of the product recorded an average weekly increase of 22.7%, with a peak on 24 May. In other words, some users are not rejecting search tech; they are rejecting being surprised by it.
Google’s AI search gets a colder reception
Google showed off a revamped search experience at its annual developer conference, where classic blue-link results are increasingly being replaced by AI answers, task execution, and conversational follow-ups. The pitch is obvious: faster answers, fewer clicks, more helpfulness. The risk is equally obvious: fewer independent sites get traffic, and users lose control over where information comes from.
That complaint is now familiar across the web. Publishers have warned for months that AI summaries can trap readers inside the search layer, while competitors such as Brave and Startpage have leaned harder into privacy and user control. Ecosia, meanwhile, continues to sell the idea that search can fund trees instead of hoovering up attention for its own sake.
DuckDuckGo keeps AI optional
DuckDuckGo’s pitch is not anti-AI so much as anti-compulsion. Its founder, Gabriel Weinberg, says users should be able to choose how much AI gets involved in their browsing, and the company’s Duck.ai service offers access to models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta while claiming to remove IP addresses and avoid using chats for training.
That combination may turn out to be the real market gap: not AI versus no AI, but forced AI versus optional AI. If Google keeps folding more machine-generated material into the default search box, expect more users to test the exits – and more niche search brands to look a little less niche.