Google is the undisputed king of online search, with an 85% market share in the United States as of May 2026, according to Statcounter. Still, there’s a growing tide of discontent around Google Search, with alternatives like DuckDuckGo showing significant usage increases in recent weeks, shortly after Google’s I/O 2026 event, where the company unveiled its latest AI innovations. The renewed interest in DuckDuckGo is not accidental, as Google announced a major AI-centric overhaul of Google Search at the event, billing it as the biggest change to Google Search in 25 years. The design overhaul aims to put AI-powered searches, including extended conversations, at the center of Google Search, supplanting the traditional online search model.
DuckDuckGo search traffic saw an all-time high on June 1, 2026, according to comments made by the company to BGR. The Google Search alternative saw increased consumer interest following Google Search announcements at I/O 2026, with iPhone app installs nearly doubling in early June compared to the previous week. This renewed interest in Google search alternatives propelled the DuckDuckGo browser to third position in the App Store utility rankings at the start of June 2026, the second most downloaded browser after Google Chrome. At the time of writing, the app ranks 11th in the same ranking.
Google began adding a wave of new AI features to Google Search a few years ago. In 2023, the company launched a Google Search Generative Experiment (SGE) that placed AI generative search results into search. A year later, Google introduced AI Overviews, an evolution of SGE. AI previews appear at the top of regular search results, providing AI-generated results to user queries by default.
What’s new in the Google search redesign?
There is currently no way to remove AI previews in Google Search. The feature faced backlash shortly after launch when it provided erroneous recommendations, such as putting “glue on pizza.” Google followed the AI previews with an AI Mode in Google Search, a separate tab that allowed users to participate in chats with a Gemini model on search topics, similar to chats in the ChatGPT and Gemini apps. Unlike AI Previews, AI Mode is optional, as the user must select the AI Mode menu option to initiate chats with the AI.
The Google Search I/O 2026 update brings a massive overhaul to the Google Search experience beyond AI Previews and AI Mode. The traditional search bar used for keyword searches has been replaced with a dynamic search bar where users can enter natural language prompts for searches similar to the prompts used in the standalone Gemini and ChatGPT apps. The Google Search tab supports multimodal search, allowing users to add images, files, and videos to text prompts. Google Search also provides reasoning support and allows users to continue conversations in AI mode in AI previews. In addition to this, Google integrates AI agents into Google Search that allow users to set up specific reminders for events.
The Google search bar isn’t the only thing changing. Google also uses AI to generate parts of the interface. Google Search can use AI to create visual experiences that can help explain a complex topic through Google’s Antigravity tool. Google Search will also use AI agents for online shopping, introducing a universal shopping cart that will work between merchants and services. The shopping cart will offer smart features, such as detecting a problem with a product before purchasing it and placing orders.
Too much AI in Google search?
The Google search experience announced at I/O 2026 could make traditional online searches more difficult to perform. Features like AI mode can be helpful when discussing concepts and plans with Gemini. AI-assisted shopping and agents can also have a place in Google Search, when users opt-in. But Google makes the AI-centric interface the default experience. There’s no toggle to turn off the new AI-powered UI and do a traditional search that returns a standard results page. This may explain the move to DuckDuckGo, which offers optional AI features. Additionally, DuckDuckGo has created a “NoAI” search page that disables all AI features, including answers, images, and suggestions.
The new Google search also showed early errors. Shortly after the I/O 2026 announcements, users discovered that searching for a word like “ignore” would trigger an AI conversation error rather than displaying the expected dictionary result for the word. The AI would take the word as a command to ignore the previous discussion and start again. These errors reminded people of the “glue on pizza” mishaps of the early days of AI previews. Google has fixed these issues and may resolve similar issues with the new Google search experience. However, this experiment further illustrates that AI is Google’s primary interest in Google Search.
It’s not just regular users who are leaving Google. The European Parliament announced in June 2026 the switch to Qwant, a French rival to Google search. While this move came after Google’s I/O event in mid-May, it’s not necessarily related to the Google Search overhaul that prompted users to switch to DuckDuckGo. Instead, it is part of a broader initiative by Europe to promote local technological solutions and reduce its dependence on non-European tools.
