DuckDuckGo is promoting its search engine to schools after Google said they could disable Gemini but would lose access to Google Search if they also turned off its other AI features. The company is encouraging educators to consider switching their default search provider instead.
DuckDuckGo founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg shared the company’s instructions for changing a school’s default search engine on X and offered help with the process. Chief public affairs officer Kamyl Bazbaz criticized Google’s approach, while DuckDuckGo told TechCrunch that Google could disable Search’s AI features for schools if it chose to.
Google said Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search would be off by default, with schools able to enable each service individually. But Google Search includes AI Overviews and AI Mode, which provides conversational answers to queries. The policy has prompted educators to seek ways to remove AI from students’ learning experience altogether.
DuckDuckGo offers AI tools, including the Duck.ai chat interface and an AI search assistant, but says users can disable those features in its search and browser settings. Its noai.duckduckgo.com site also turns off AI-assisted answers, AI-generated images and AI feature suggestions.
The company says its app installs rose 30% earlier this year as users rejected Google’s AI Search. Google has historically had a substantial presence in schools: figures it published in previous years put Chromebook use in schools at around 50 million devices and Google Classroom at more than 150 million users globally.
Sources: TechCrunch.