DuckDuckGo just launched its AI features out of beta. The privacy-focused search company now delivers AI-generated answers sourced from across the web, not just Wikipedia. Their approach stands in stark contrast to competitors who seem determined to shove AI into every pixel of your screen.
The company first introduced these answers—originally called DuckAssist—in 2023. Users appreciate them for being less intrusive than Google's AI Overviews. DuckDuckGo's version offers concise responses and lets you control their frequency. You can even turn them off entirely, a concept apparently alien to most tech companies.
Even at the highest setting of "often," AI-assisted answers appear for only 20% of searches. The company plans to increase this number gradually. "We'd like to raise that over time," says Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo's CEO and founder. "We want to stay conservative with it. We don't want to put it in front of people if we don't think it's right." A refreshing approach in an era when most tech companies treat restraint like kryptonite.
For some queries, DuckDuckGo presents a box for follow-up questions. This redirects users to Duck.ai, their chatbot service. No account creation required—a miracle in today's sign-up-obsessed digital landscape.
Duck.ai offers access to multiple AI models including GPT-4o mini, o3-mini, Llama 3.3, Mistral Small 3, and Claude 3 Haiku. You interact with these models anonymously. DuckDuckGo hides your IP address and has agreements ensuring your data won't train these models. It seems they actually took the "private" part of "privacy-focused" seriously.
The chatbot also introduces Recent Chats, storing conversations locally on your device rather than on distant servers. Your embarrassing questions about why cats knead pillows remain your business alone.
Despite exiting beta, Duck.ai continues evolving. Web search integration arrives in weeks, enhancing its question-answering ability. Voice interaction for mobile devices follows soon, along with image upload capabilities. While Duck.ai remains free, Weinberg hints at including advanced AI models in their $9.99 monthly subscription. Capitalism finds a way, even in privacy paradise.
The technology behind Duck.ai focuses on anonymity through proxying. When generating AI-assisted answers, DuckDuckGo calls the underlying AI models anonymously on your behalf. They remove your IP address completely and substitute their own. The requests come from them, not you. It's like having a privacy bodyguard who wears a mask with your face on it.
DuckDuckGo makes money from private search ads, not user data. Their free services include Search and AI-assisted answers with no login required. Duck.ai chat also remains free but with daily usage limits. A paid plan with higher limits and fancier AI models looms on the horizon.
For publishers concerned about content scraping, DuckDuckGo allows opting out of AI-assisted answers while staying in regular search results. A small olive branch in the ongoing war between content creators and AI companies.
The company's plans extend beyond current features. Future updates include adding newer models, voice and image support, and granting models web access. For search-based AI answers, improvements target speed, interactivity, and better automatic appearance for complex queries.
DuckDuckGo's approach presents a middle path in the AI search wars. Google bombards users with AI whether they want it or not. Microsoft pushes Copilot aggressively across their ecosystem. Meanwhile, DuckDuckGo simply provides options and respects choices. A novel concept in tech: giving users what they want instead of what executives think they should want.
The company faces an uphill battle against search giants with virtually unlimited resources. But for users tired of being tracked, analyzed, and served AI at every turn, DuckDuckGo offers a refreshing alternative. They prove AI features can exist without sacrificing privacy—a concept their larger competitors find mysteriously difficult to grasp.
You can try Duck.ai on their website or through the DuckDuckGo browser. AI-assisted answers appear in search results or by clicking the "Assist" button when available. Weinberg encourages user feedback to guide future development, suggesting they actually care what users think. How quaint.
Why this matters:
- Privacy and AI aren't mutually exclusive. DuckDuckGo proves you can have AI features without compromising personal data—a concept that apparently baffles Silicon Valley's biggest players.
- User control matters. While Google and Microsoft force-feed AI features, DuckDuckGo lets you determine how much AI appears in your results. Imagine that: technology that serves users rather than corporate agendas.
Read on, my dear:
