DuckDuckGo Courts Schools as Google's AI Bundle Backfires

Google told schools on Tuesday they can disable Gemini — but shutting off its other AI features would cost them Google Search entirely. DuckDuckGo moved within hours to turn that bundling decision into a sales pitch to the education market, where Google has spent a decade building near-total dominance.

The numbers explain why this fight matters. Roughly 50 million Chromebooks sit in schools worldwide, used by students and educators, according to figures Google has published in prior years. Google Classroom serves more than 150 million users globally. That installed base is the prize DuckDuckGo is now openly chasing.

Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo's founder and CEO, pointed on X to the company's online documentation explaining how schools can switch their default search engine to DuckDuckGo. He added: "get in touch for help."

Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo's chief public affairs officer, went further. "forcing AI on school children: how a monopolist behaves when they think people are powerless. Prove Google wrong," he wrote. In an email to TechCrunch, DuckDuckGo also argued Google could easily turn off Search's AI features for schools if it wanted to.

What does the standoff actually change for schools?

The core issue is bundling. After the backlash on Tuesday, Google defended its decision, saying it was responding to schools' feedback. Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Search will be off by default, Google said, and schools can enable each individually. The catch: Google Search now runs heavily on AI through AI Overviews and a conversational AI Mode that answers queries directly. A school that wants AI-free search can't have it from Google.

Educators have been asking for exactly that. Google built "Guided Learning," a technology designed to help kids learn by walking through problem-solving steps rather than just handing over an answer. It's a genuine attempt to make AI pedagogically useful. But educators are still requesting tools that let them strip AI out of the learning process altogether — and that's the request Google just declined.

DuckDuckGo's pitch is that it delivers that option. The company, which focuses on user privacy by limiting data collection, isn't anti-AI. It offers its own AI tools, including a chat interface called Duck.ai and an AI search assistant. The difference, the company says, is control: users can disable these features in both its search and browser settings. It also runs a dedicated site, noai.duckduckgo.com, where AI-assisted answers, AI-generated images, and AI feature suggestions are all switched off by default.

Is the demand real?

DuckDuckGo says it is. The company reported earlier this year that its app installs rose 30% as users pushed back against being force-fed Google's AI Search. That's a self-reported figure without an absolute base, so treat the trend, not the scale, as the signal. Still, a 30% install jump tied specifically to AI resentment suggests the education opening isn't theoretical.

The timing also lands amid a broader public reckoning with AI. Tuesday night's elections showed voters rejecting AI data centers in their towns, even as AI use at work and school becomes routine. Those two instincts — hostile to AI infrastructure, pragmatic about AI tools — are exactly the tension Google misread with schools, and exactly the tension DuckDuckGo is monetizing.

For administrators, the practical question is switching cost. Changing a default search engine across a district's Chromebook fleet is a configuration task, not a procurement battle — no new hardware, no new licenses. DuckDuckGo's documentation and Weinberg's offer of direct help lower that barrier further. The real friction is habit: teachers, students, and IT staff have lived inside Google's ecosystem for years.

Google, for its part, shows no sign of unbundling Search from its AI features. Its position — off by default, but inseparable — keeps the controversy alive with every AI Overview a student sees. If even a fraction of the 50-million-device education market takes Weinberg up on his offer, Tuesday's policy decision will have handed a privacy-focused rival its biggest institutional opening yet.