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DuckDuckGo Reports Surge in U.S. Installs After Google Search Changes
DuckDuckGo said U.S. installs rose 20.8 percent week over week after Google announced AI features at its May 19 I/O conference. Visits to its no-AI search page also increased during the same period.
May 27, 3:56 PM·1m read1 source
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DuckDuckGo reported higher U.S. install numbers in the week after Google presented new search features at its annual I/O conference on May 19. The company said installs rose an average of 20.8 percent week over week in the seven days following the announcements. Growth reached 37.6 percent on May 26, with iOS installs climbing an average of 33 percent and peaking near 70 percent on May 25.
Visits to DuckDuckGo's noai.duckduckgo.com page, where AI features remain disabled, increased 22.7 percent on average week over week. Google stated that the updates integrate AI Mode capabilities into the main search box, allowing longer conversational queries and uploads of images, videos, files, and browser tabs.
DuckDuckGo executives said some users are seeking alternatives that let them control AI usage levels. "Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out," DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg said in a statement. " A DuckDuckGo spokesperson told Business Insider that the recent increase is steeper than any seen from a news event in recent memory.
The figures come from DuckDuckGo's internal data, and broader changes in search behavior are not measured in the report.
