DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search

DuckDuckGo 安装量激增 30%，用户拒绝被“强行喂食”谷歌 AI 搜索

Last week, after Google announced its huge overhaul to Search, I overheard a woman on the phone saying she was switching to DuckDuckGo because you can “opt out of using AI.” “Google just isn’t Google anymore,” she said. 上周，在谷歌宣布对其搜索功能进行重大改革后，我无意中听到一位女士在电话里说，她要改用 DuckDuckGo，因为在那里可以“选择不使用 AI”。她说：“谷歌已经不再是以前的谷歌了。”

It seems that others had the same idea. At I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, the company said it would transform its search box into a conversational engine that expands for longer queries, anticipates user intent, and autocompletes searches. Rather than just returning a list of links, it will use AI Overviews to answer questions directly first. 看来其他人也有同样的想法。在谷歌年度开发者大会 I/O 上，该公司表示将把搜索框转变为一个对话式引擎，能够针对更长的查询进行扩展、预判用户意图并自动补全搜索内容。它不再仅仅返回链接列表，而是会优先使用“AI 概览”（AI Overviews）直接回答问题。

Google also unveiled a more seamless AI Mode, allowing users to ask follow-up questions within AI Overviews. While a Google spokesperson noted that AI Overviews have existed for two years and AI Mode is not the default, the backlash has been sharp. Some have argued it will kill the open web, while others shared concerns that AI overviews surface inaccurate responses and take away control from users who might not want to use AI. It also overcomplicates simple things. Just try to Google the word “disregard.” 谷歌还推出了更无缝的“AI 模式”，允许用户在“AI 概览”中进行追问。尽管谷歌发言人指出“AI 概览”已经存在两年，且“AI 模式”并非默认开启，但舆论反弹依然强烈。一些人认为这会扼杀开放网络，另一些人则担心 AI 概览会提供不准确的回答，并剥夺了那些不想使用 AI 的用户的控制权。它还让简单的事情变得复杂化。试着在谷歌搜索一下“disregard”（无视）这个词就知道了。

In response to Google’s changes, many have begun defecting to DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused alternative that has never been able to break past Google’s dominance, accounting for only around 2% of the U.S. search market. During Google’s search antitrust trial in 2023, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testified that Google’s exclusive default search contracts harmed its ability to pitch itself as the default on other browsers. 为了应对谷歌的这些变化，许多人开始转向 DuckDuckGo。这是一个主打隐私的替代方案，此前一直未能打破谷歌的垄断地位，仅占美国搜索市场约 2% 的份额。在 2023 年谷歌搜索反垄断审判期间，DuckDuckGo 首席执行官 Gabriel Weinberg 作证称，谷歌的排他性默认搜索合同损害了其在其他浏览器中争取成为默认搜索引擎的能力。

“Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,” Weinberg said Tuesday in a statement, referring to Google’s Search overhaul. “As a 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.” “谷歌正在强行喂食 AI，且没有任何退出机制，”Weinberg 在周二谈及谷歌搜索改革时发表声明称。“结果就是，他们的搜索结果变得更糟了，而不是更好。我们希望成为一个让用户掌握主动权的地方，让他们自己决定想要多少或多少的 AI。”

Now, it seems that DuckDuckGo is beginning to benefit as consumers flee AI. DuckDuckGo said U.S. app installs went up 18.1% week-over-week on average during the May 20 to May 25 period, compared to May 13 to May 18. The company said that growth was sustained for six consecutive days and peaked at 30.5% on May 25. On iOS, the rate of install is even higher, with week-over-week growth hitting a 33% average, peaking at 69.9%. 现在，随着消费者逃离 AI，DuckDuckGo 似乎开始受益。DuckDuckGo 表示，在 5 月 20 日至 5 月 25 日期间，其美国应用安装量较 5 月 13 日至 18 日平均每周增长了 18.1%。该公司称，这种增长持续了六天，并在 5 月 25 日达到 30.5% 的峰值。在 iOS 平台上，安装率更高，周环比平均增长达到 33%，峰值高达 69.9%。

The search engine also said visits to its AI-free search page, noai.duckduckgo.com, averaged 22.7% WoW growth, peaking at 27.7% on May 24. The page turns off every AI feature, like AI-assisted answers and AI-generated images, by default. (A spokesperson pointed out that Google offers a web filter on Search for those who just want to see a list of blue links.) 该搜索引擎还表示，其无 AI 搜索页面 noai.duckduckgo.com 的访问量平均周环比增长了 22.7%，并在 5 月 24 日达到 27.7% 的峰值。该页面默认关闭了所有 AI 功能，如 AI 辅助回答和 AI 生成图像。（一位发言人指出，谷歌也为那些只想看到蓝色链接列表的用户在搜索中提供了网页过滤器。）

DuckDuckGo said the trend is stronger in the U.S, and that DuckDuckGo continued to gain users over the Memorial Day weekend, when it usually sees a dip in traffic. Some of that data is backed up by third parties. App analytics company Apptopia found a 29% increase in average daily downloads in the U.S. and a 12% increase globally over the same period. DuckDuckGo 表示，这种趋势在美国更为明显，并且在通常流量会下滑的阵亡将士纪念日周末，DuckDuckGo 的用户量仍在持续增长。部分数据得到了第三方的证实。应用分析公司 Apptopia 发现，同期美国平均每日下载量增长了 29%，全球增长了 12%。

DuckDuckGo offers its own AI product called Duck.ai. It’s free and doesn’t require users to make an account, but provides access to models, including Anthropic’s Claude 4.5 Haiku, Meta’s Llama 4 Scout, Mistral’s Small 3 24B, and OpenAI’s GPT-5 mini. All chats are private because DuckDuckGo strips the user’s IP address before requests reach model providers, deletes conversations within 30 days, and prevents chats from being used for training. DuckDuckGo 提供了名为 Duck.ai 的自有 AI 产品。它是免费的，不需要用户注册账户，但可以访问包括 Anthropic 的 Claude 4.5 Haiku、Meta 的 Llama 4 Scout、Mistral 的 Small 3 24B 和 OpenAI 的 GPT-5 mini 在内的多种模型。所有聊天记录都是私密的，因为 DuckDuckGo 会在请求到达模型提供商之前剥离用户的 IP 地址，在 30 天内删除对话，并防止聊天记录被用于训练。

“Not only do we respect user choice, but also user privacy,” Weinberg said. “Everything you do in DuckDuckGo is private, we don’t collect search histories or chats and nothing is used for AI training.” “我们不仅尊重用户的选择，也尊重用户的隐私，”Weinberg 说。“你在 DuckDuckGo 所做的一切都是私密的，我们不收集搜索历史或聊天记录，没有任何内容会被用于 AI 训练。”

DuckDuckGo also offers Search Assist, which is similar to Google’s AI overviews, and an AI Image Filter that filters out AI-created images from search results. Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo’s chief communications and policy officer, said both of those AI features are among the company’s most popular, despite their differing ethos. “People just want a choice,” Bazbaz said. DuckDuckGo 还提供类似于谷歌“AI 概览”的“搜索辅助”（Search Assist），以及一个可以从搜索结果中过滤掉 AI 生成图像的“AI 图像过滤器”。DuckDuckGo 首席传播与政策官 Kamyl Bazbaz 表示，尽管理念不同，但这两个 AI 功能都是该公司最受欢迎的功能。“人们只是想要一个选择，”Bazbaz 说。

A Google spokesperson pointed TechCrunch to a blog post published recently by VP of search Elizabeth Reid, in which she states that a year after its debut, AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch. 一位谷歌发言人向 TechCrunch 指向了搜索副总裁 Elizabeth Reid 最近发布的一篇博客文章。文中提到，在推出一年后，“AI 模式”的月活跃用户已超过 10 亿，且自发布以来，查询量每季度翻一番。