Google’s decision to bundle AI features with Search has opened the door for DuckDuckGo to court schools. On November 4, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg offered to help administrators make his search engine their classroom default.
Weinberg’s open invitation
Weinberg shared deployment instructions on X and offered to help schools make the DuckDuckGo search engine their default. His invitation came after Google’s announcement that Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search would be turned off by default for K–12 accounts. Administrators can enable each service separately.
However, that choice has a limit. Schools that enable Google Search must also accept AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google offers no AI-free version of Search, TechCrunch reported . DuckDuckGo’s Kamyl Bazbaz criticized Google’s decision to bundle Search with AI features as forcing AI on schoolchildren.
What switching the default actually changes
The deployment instructions provide information to school administrators about changing the default search engine to DuckDuckGo on managed Chrome browsers and Chromebooks. The change affects the search engine for address bar searches. Google Classroom, Drive, and Docs are not affected in this process.
Schools can also use noai.duckduckgo.com to disable AI-generated answers and images. DuckDuckGo also has its own AI tools, including Duck.ai. However, it lets users decide whether to use them.
Downloads climbed, but that is not school migration
DuckDuckGo seems to be winning over some customers with its strategy. In a June 3 post , the company reported that the number of installs in the US rose 76% after Google announced the changes in its Search policy. It also recorded the largest number of searches for one day.
Earlier figures showed similar interest. App analytics firm Apptopia measured a 29% rise in average daily U.S. downloads during a May period, TechCrunch reported . Still, neither figure shows that schools have switched. App downloads are different from district-wide decisions.
Google’s lead dwarfs the opening
Despite the rise in the number of DuckDuckGo installs, Google is still leading the market. Google accounted for 91.05% of search traffic worldwide in October. DuckDuckGo’s share was 0.64%, according to StatCounter . The figures for the U.S. market were slightly better: 85.45% for Google and 1.74% for DuckDuckGo, according to EMARKETER .
Schools, however, may give DuckDuckGo a significantly larger audience. Google said that there are more than 50 million students and educators using Chromebooks and over 150 million using Classroom and Assignments in 2024.
Even a tiny shift could make a big difference. If 1% of all those Chromebook users changed their search engine to DuckDuckGo, that would mean that DuckDuckGo would be able to reach 500,000 people. This is just a theoretical calculation and not confirmed evidence for actual school migration.
Turning that potential into adoption will depend on administrators. SETDA’s 2026 survey found that evidence, privacy and safety are becoming increasingly important in school technology purchasing.
The learning fight behind the search fight
For schools, the stakes go beyond which search engine wins. The bigger question is: does AI help students learn, or just help them finish their homework faster?
The evidence remains limited. Stanford reviewed more than 800 papers on AI in K–12 education but found only 20 rigorous causal studies. Tools that guide students through problems showed more promise than chatbots that provide answers directly. Whether those benefits last remains uncertain.
Brookings raised concerns about students becoming dependent on AI, while acknowledging its educational potential. Google is responding with Guided Learning , which aims to help students work through problems. Meanwhile, some districts have developed workarounds to keep AI-generated answers out of searches.
Schools must now decide how much AI belongs in learning, even as researchers continue studying its effects.
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