This privacy-first chatbot is taking off - here's why and how to try it
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Users are flocking to Duck.ai. Is it a reaction to increasing concerns about AI companies and privacy? Here's what you should know.
Innovation Home Innovation Artificial Intelligence This privacy-first chatbot is taking off - here's why and how to try it Users are flocking to Duck.ai. Is it a reaction to increasing concerns about AI companies and privacy? Here's what you should know. Written by Radhika Rajkumar, EditorEditor March 30, 2026 at 7:01 p.m. PT Mohith S R/iStock / Getty Images PlusFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET's key takeaways DuckDuckGo's privacy-first chatbot is taking off.Users are increasingly concerned about how their data is used.New features could also be driving growth.Privacy concerns around chatbots are nothing new, but as AI adoption spreads, users are becoming increasingly aware of the risks. Duck.ai, the chatbot from privacy-focused browser DuckDuckGo, could be benefiting from that. Also: Stop telling AI your secrets - 5 reasons why, and what to do if you already oversharedNew data from Similarweb found web traffic to Duck.ai exploded last month. Duck.ai "reached 11.1 million visits in February, up more than 300% from January," Similarweb told ZDNET.DuckDuckGo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.That number is still small compared to the most dominant chatbots: By contrast, Similarweb estimates that chatgpt.com reached 5.4 billion visits in February, while gemini.google.com reached 2.1 billion and claude.ai hit 290.3 million. Still, for having only launched in beta a year ago, that's a sharp uptick in visits worth keeping an eye on. ...