DuckDuckGo installs up 30% as users quit Google AI
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- DuckDuckGo reported U.S. app installs rose 18.1% week‑over‑week from May 20‑25, peaking at 30.5% on May 25; iOS installs grew 33% average, reaching 69.9% at the high.
- DuckDuckGo's AI‑free search page (noai.duckduckgo.com) saw 22.7% week‑over‑week growth in visits, peaking at 27.7% on May 24.
- Google unveiled at its I/O conference a new Search experience that replaces traditional blue‑link results with an AI agent that provides answers, executes tasks, and runs background monitoring.
- Consumers are defecting from Google Search, citing the inability to opt out of AI and a perception that results are getting worse; a user remarked “Google just isn’t Google anymore.”
- DuckDuckGo offers its own AI chatbot, Duck.ai, powered by models such as Anthropic’s Claude 4.5 Haiku, Meta’s Llama 4 Scout, Mistral’s Small 3 24B, and OpenAI’s GPT‑5 mini, with privacy safeguards that strip IPs, delete chats after 30 days, and prevent training use.
Why it matters: DuckDuckGo gains market share as Google loses users; the 30% install surge translates into higher ad revenue and strengthens privacy‑centric positioning, while Google risks eroding trust and losing search dominance.
