DuckDuckGo is making a play for the education market, seizing an opportunity created by Google's recent policy changes. On Tuesday, Google informed schools they could disable Gemini, but warned that turning off its other AI features would also mean losing access to Google Search. DuckDuckGo, a company built around user privacy and minimal data collection, clearly views this as a strategic moment to gain ground in education—a sector where Google has long held dominance. According to figures Google has released in prior years, approximately 50 million Chromebooks are in use in schools by students and educators, and its Google Classroom platform serves more than 150 million users worldwide.

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

Meanwhile, DuckDuckGo's chief public affairs officer, Kamyl Bazbaz, issued a sharper statement, writing, "forcing AI on school children: how a monopolist behaves when they think people are powerless. Prove Google wrong."

These comments arrive as the American public is grappling with how much AI they want to allow into their lives. As Tuesday night's elections indicate, they don't want AI data centers built in their towns. But using AI at work and school has become a common practice and requires a more nuanced discussion. Knowing that educators have struggled with AI, Google developed technology called "Guided Learning" that is meant to help kids learn by walking through problem-solving steps rather than just providing them with an answer. But educators are still asking for tools that let them remove AI from the learning process altogether. After the backlash on Tuesday, Google defended its decision, saying it was just responding to schools' feedback. It said that Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Search would be off by default, and schools could choose to enable them individually.

The problem, of course, is that Google Search now heavily uses AI, through AI Overviews and a conversational AI Mode that answers users' queries. DuckDuckGo isn't anti-AI, to be clear—it offers its own set of AI features, including a chat interface called Duck.ai, and an AI search assistant. However, unlike Google, it provides options to disable these features in both its search and browser settings, the company says. It also offers a dedicated website, noai.duckduckgo.com, where AI-assisted answers, AI-generated images, and AI feature suggestions are all turned off. That flexibility may be driving demand for its services, as the company reported earlier this year that its app installs were up 30% as users rejected being force-fed Google's AI Search.