As Google announced a "comprehensive AI overhaul" of its search engine at its I/O event, many users accustomed to traditional web searches began to feel frustrated. This dissatisfaction with the forced AI summaries directly led to a surge in traffic for DuckDuckGo, a search engine that focuses on privacy protection.

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Meeting Traditional Search Needs

In response to this market shift, DuckDuckGo has announced a new extension plugin for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers. This plugin allows users to set DuckDuckGo's AI-free search page as their default search engine, effectively filtering out all AI summaries.

According to data disclosed by the official source, this move has already shown results, with the number of DuckDuckGo browser installations in the U.S. increasing by 21% in late May compared to the previous week. The growth on the iOS platform was particularly significant, with a sharp rise in installations, indicating a strong user demand for a clean search experience.

Returning the Choice to Users

DuckDuckGo stated that the purpose of launching this plugin is not to completely oppose artificial intelligence technology. The company believes that AI should not be forcibly embedded into all search processes, but rather the decision should be returned to the users.

In fact, DuckDuckGo also offers an AI assistant service called "Duck.ai." However, unlike Google, DuckDuckGo allows users to permanently disable it in the settings, fully respecting users' personal usage habits and autonomy in choice.