Following AI-powered search announcements at last week’s Google I/O, DuckDuckGo says it has seen a notable and sustained increase in users in the United States, including a large increase in iPhone app installs. Here are the details.
iOS users in the US are looking for alternatives to Google without AI
Last week during the Google I/O keynote, the company announced a series of changes coming to its users in the coming weeks and months, most of which relate to better integration of AI into its ecosystem.
You can certainly read all about 9to5Google’s coverage of the event, but when it comes to search specifically, Google announced an overhaul of the search box, accompanied by a press release calling it a “new era for AI search” and “the biggest upgrade (to Google’s search box) in over 25 years.”
And while some of the new features, such as the personalized generative user interface, are poised to help users visualize and better understand what they’re searching for, Google’s decision to push AI even deeper into search has also drawn criticism from users who want a more traditional search experience.
In light of this, DuckDuckGo tells 9to5Mac that it has seen a sustained increase in US users since Google I/O, with iOS leading all platforms. The company says U.S. iOS installations grew an average of 33% week over week, compared with overall growth of 18.1%.
DuckDuckGo also reports that visits to noai.duckduckgo.com, the non-AI version of its search platform, have also increased, with an average week-over-week growth of 22.7%.
Interestingly, DuckDuckGo notes that “US growth was several times the international rate,” adding that these numbers not only held steady, but accelerated “through Memorial Day weekend, when activity typically declines.”
According to DuckDuckGo, these figures suggest that, rather than being a global trend, the recent rise could be “a response to Google’s US-focused announcement.”
That said, DuckDuckGo has also experimented with AI features, while frequently making its best effort to communicate that they are optional and can be avoided entirely via noai.duckduckgo.com.
To learn more about DuckDuckGo’s approach to AI, follow this link.
To discover on Amazon
