Google executives stood on stage at I/O this month and declared victory. Users love AI Mode, they said. Queries double every quarter. Over a billion people engage with the feature monthly. The search giant has spent years weaving generative answers into results, first with AI Overviews and now with a conversational search box that often answers questions before users even click a link. But the data tells another story. In the days right after those announcements, people started looking for the exit. DuckDuckGo reported a sharp rise in both app installs and visits to its dedicated AI-free search page. The numbers come directly from the company and line up with third-party checks. U.S. app installs climbed an average of 18.1 percent week-over-week from May 20 to May 25 compared with the prior week. Growth held steady for six straight days. It peaked at 30.5 percent on May 25. On iOS the jump looked even steeper, averaging 33 percent and hitting 69.9 percent at its height that same day.…