Vivaldi Reaffirms No-AI Stance as DuckDuckGo Reports 30% Install Surge After Google Overhaul
Vivaldi Browser publicly restated its opposition to artificial intelligence features this week, positioning itself alongside DuckDuckGo to capture users fleeing Google's AI-dominated search experience.
The Norwegian-Icelandic browser maker posted “We have not changed our minds” on X, paired with its “Browse without AI” manifesto — a move timed to coincide with a sharp spike in demand for AI-free alternatives.
That spike is measurable. DuckDuckGo reported a 30% jump in U.S. installs and a tripling of traffic to its dedicated no-AI search page after Google restructured its search product around AI-generated results.
Google’s I/O Moment Drives the Backlash
Google’s May 2025 I/O developer conference effectively confirmed that AI would sit at the center of its search product going forward. The company also deepened the integration of its Gemini AI assistant into Chrome, its dominant browser.
For a segment of users, that combination — AI in search and AI in the browser — proved too much.
What Vivaldi Is Arguing
Vivaldi’s manifesto, signed by CEO Jon von Tetzchner, frames the issue as one of control. An AI intermediary between a user and the web means “Big Tech filters What You see and decides what you don’t see,” the document said.
The company first published the letter in August 2025. It compared AI-mediated browsing to hiring a robot to attend a dinner with your friends and receive a summary afterward.
Vivaldi re-circulated the manifesto this week, a signal the company sees Google's AI push as a direct user-acquisition opportunity.
A Fragmented Alternative Ecosystem
That opportunity exists inside a messy market. Users on the Reddit community r/degoogle linked Vivaldi’s post to the broader no-AI movement, but discussions shifted quickly to the weaknesses of available alternatives.
Startpage, a privacy-focused search engine that returns Google results without tracking, drew criticism from some users for missing obvious results. Ecosia, the tree-planting search engine, drew sharper criticism after it introduced AI-generated answers — with some users accusing the company of using its environmental branding to obscure the feature.
Vivaldi’s position also contrasts sharply with that of Brave, a competing privacy-focused browser. Brave ships with several AI tools enabled by default, including its AI Chat assistant and a summarization feature called Host-Specific Distillation, though users can disable both.
Brave moved separately this week to release its premium Origin browser — a stripped-down, AI-free build — on the stable desktop channel. That version carries a subscription fee, except on Linux, where Brave offers it free of charge.
The result is a market where users who want to avoid AI must currently assemble their own stack: Vivaldi for browsing, DuckDuckGo for search, and in some cases an alternative operating system. Linux distributions have drawn attention in those conversations as the most complete AI-free environment available.
Vivaldi, founded by von Tetzchner — a co-founder of the original Opera browser — launched in 2016 and has built its brand around customization and user control.
