Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has seen a surge in demand for its “AI-free” search option following Google’s May 19 I/O announcements. Google has launched a new “smart” search box reinvented with AI. It offers AI suggestions in the form of an upgrade to autocomplete, support for follow-up questions, expanded personal intelligence to connect Gmail and Google Photos, and search agents.
DuckDuckGo said Woozad the number of visits to its No AI search page more than tripled after Google’s announcement. Traffic hit the 3x mark on May 28 and has continued to climb. Visits have averaged about 84 percent above baseline since May 19.
DuckDuckGo is responding to the demand for No AI search options and promoting new extensions available for Chrome and Firefox that set No AI search as the default.
No AI search has no AI-assisted answers, no chat interface, and shows fewer AI images. DuckDuckGo can be set as the default search engine on Apple devices, but not the specific No AI page. DuckDuckGo has its own AI tools, but they are disabled for people who opt for the No AI experience.
DuckDuckGo plans to add No AI search settings to its stock extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera soon.
Besides DuckDuckGo, there are other privacy-focused search engine options that minimize AI results. Paid search engine Kagi is an example, with no visible AI information unless you opt for AI tools. Kagi costs $5 per month for limited searches and $10 per month for unlimited searches.
Since it is a paid search engine, it does not contain advertisements and does not collect or sell user data.
