DuckDuckGo has reported “a sustained surge” of installs in the US in the week that followed Google’s I/O developer conference, where the bigger company announced more AI features for Search. The  search engine company says its app installs in the US were up an average of 18.1 percent for six consecutive days, peaking at 30.5 percent on May 25. Most of the new users are on iOS, with installs on iPhones showing an average growth of 33 percent week-on-week and also peaking on May 25 at 69.9 percent. 

In addition, visits to its noai.duckduckgo.com website also grew an average of 22.7 percent week-on-week, with its peak growth of 27.7 percent happening on May 24. DuckDuckGo says its growth in the US over the past week was multiple times bigger than the international rate, suggesting that surge of installs was in “response to Google’s US-centric announcement” and not a global trend. It was also able to sustain the growth through Memorial Day weekend, which historically leads to lower activity. 

At I/O 2026, Google announced several new AI-powered Search features, including the Intelligent Search Box. Unlike the ordinary Search box, the new one can fit complex queries and can process videos, images, files and even Chrome tabs as input for people’s searches. It’s worth noting that the new Search box is rolling out everywhere where AI Mode is available, not just in the US. Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers are also getting access to AI Search agents, including ones that run 24/7 in the background to gather information for users. 

We’ve seen quite a few posts on Reddit from people making the switch to DuckDuckGo after Google’s announcements. “Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,” said DuckDuckGo CEO CEO Gabriel Weinberg. “As 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. That’s why we’re seeing a spike in people coming to DuckDuckGo this week, it’s as simple as that.” To be clear, DuckDuckGo also has AI features for its search engine, including ones similar to Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode. However, they can easily be switched off in settings, and people can opt to visit the noai.duckduckgo.com website where all AI features are off by default.