DuckDuckGo is using Google‘s education announcement as an opening to win school searches. Google told schools they can turn off Gemini, but said that disabling its other AI features would mean losing Google Search as well. That creates a conflict for educators who want AI out of the classroom, and DuckDuckGo is responding by pitching its default-search switch. On X, CEO Gabriel Weinberg pointed to documentation for changing a school’s default search engine and offered help; chief public affairs officer Kamyl Bazbaz was blunter, writing, “Forcing AI on school children: how a monopolist behaves when they think people are powerless. Prove Google wrong.” In an email to TechCrunch, DuckDuckGo said Google could easily turn off Search’s AI features for schools if it wanted to.

The company sees room in education, where Google‘s footprint is large: Google has previously published figures of about 50 million Chromebooks in schools and more than 150 million Google Classroom users globally. DuckDuckGo‘s privacy positioning, which centers on limiting data collection, is central to the appeal.

Google framed the change as giving schools more control. In a post on X, it said Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Search would be off by default, with schools able to enable each one individually, and that the move responded to K-12 schools asking for more control. The complication, as TechCrunch notes, is that Google Search itself now relies heavily on AI through AI Overviews and a conversational AI Mode, so switching Search back on brings AI back in. Google also pointed to a feature called Guided Learning, designed to walk students through problem-solving steps instead of just giving answers, but educators are still asking for tools that remove AI from learning entirely.

DuckDuckGo is not anti-AI. It offers Duck.ai, a chat interface, and an AI search assistant. The difference is control: it says its search and browser settings let users disable AI features, and it runs noai.duckduckgo.com, where AI-assisted answers, AI-generated images, and AI feature suggestions are all turned off. That flexibility may be paying off: DuckDuckGo reported earlier this year that app installs were up 30% as users rejected being force-fed Google‘s AI Search.