Last week at its I/O developer conference, Google announced a complete overhaul of search, replacing traditional blue link lists with AI agents that allow users to obtain answers and execute tasks directly through artificial intelligence. This move immediately triggered strong backlash: critics questioned whether it would mark the end of an open internet, while some users complained that AI previews frequently deliver incorrect results and strip away user choice—for instance, searching for the term "disregard" has become unusually complex. Meanwhile, privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo clearly benefited. Company data shows that between May 20 and May 25, app installations in the U.S. market saw average weekly growth of 18.1%, rising consistently over six consecutive days, peaking on May 25 alone at 30.5%. Growth was even faster on iOS, averaging 33% week-over-week, reaching a peak of 69.9%. Visits to its fully non-AI search page, noai.duckduckgo.com, also rose by an average of 22.7% compared to the previous week. "Weinberg," DuckDuckGo's CEO stated, "is forcing AI down users' throats without offering them any opt-out option." He noted that Google's longstanding exclusive default-search agreements have previously suppressed his company's market expansion, and now this forced push toward AI will only drive users away. Although DuckDuckGo itself offers an AI product called Duck.ai—integrating models such as Claude, Llama, and GPT—it pledges full privacy protection for all conversations and guarantees that none of these interactions will be used for AI training.