DuckDuckGo traffic up 23% after Google AI Mode claim
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- DuckDuckGo saw its AI‑free search page visits rise 22.7% week‑on‑week from May 20‑25, peaking at a 27.7% increase on May 24.
- DuckDuckGo reported US mobile‑app installs climb 18.1% week‑on‑week, with a six‑day peak of 30.5% on May 25; iOS installs grew 33% week‑on‑week, hitting a 69.9% peak on May 25.
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai asserted that “people love” Search’s AI Mode, prompting criticism from DuckDuckGo.
- Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo CEO, said Google’s “force‑feeding” of AI without an opt‑out makes results worse and emphasized user choice.
- DuckDuckGo holds roughly 2% of the U.S. search market versus Google’s ~85% share, yet its privacy‑focused stance draws new users.
- DuckDuckGo offers its own AI chat via duck.ai with LLMs like GPT‑5 mini and Claude Haiku 4.5, while claiming it never logs searches or chats for training.
- Google reported a 19% Q1 2026 search‑revenue increase, attributing growth to AI experiences such as AI Mode and AI Overviews.
Why it matters: DuckDuckGo gains a surge of users—visits up 22.7% and app installs up 33%—showing that privacy‑focused alternatives can attract traffic even as Google’s AI Mode fuels a 19% Q1 revenue rise, highlighting a niche market for non‑AI‑forced search and pressures the dominant player to consider opt‑out options.
