DuckDuckGo enhances its search tool with artificial intelligence, but allows optional continued use.
DuckDuckAI is a new search engine that combines traditional search technology with artificial intelligence. Its aim is to provide more accurate and relevant results to users, enhancing the web search experience. This innovative approach could change the way people find information online.
DuckDuckGo has revealed its ambitious plans to integrate artificial intelligence into its search engine. The privacy-focused company announced that its AI-generated answers, available for certain queries, have left the beta phase and are now gathering information from various sources on the web, not limited to Wikipedia. Furthermore, web search is expected to soon be integrated into its AI-based chatbot, which has also completed its testing phase.
The AI-assisted answer service, called DuckAssist upon its launch in 2023, presents itself as a less intrusive alternative to tools like Google's AI Overviews. This system provides more concise answers and allows users to adjust the frequency with which they see them, with the option to turn them off completely. If the AI-generated answers option is set to "often," the user will only view them about 20% of the time, although the company plans to increase this frequency in the future. Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo, commented on the importance of being conservative in the implementation: “We don’t want to present it to people if we don’t think it’s appropriate.”
Some AI-assisted answers from DuckDuckGo allow access to additional questions, linking the user to its chatbot Duck.ai. This chatbot, like the AI-generated answers, does not require an account and maintains its commitment to privacy. Users can interact anonymously with several AI models, including GPT-4o mini and Claude 3 Haiku, ensuring that their data is not used for training these models.
Recently, Duck.ai launched the "Recent Chats" feature, which stores previous conversations locally on the user's device, rather than on DuckDuckGo's servers. Although Duck.ai has left beta, the arrival of new features will not stop. In the coming weeks, web search capabilities will be added, enhancing the chatbot's ability to answer questions. Additionally, work is underway to integrate voice interaction on iPhone and Android devices, as well as the ability to upload images to ask related questions.
Weinberg also mentioned that while Duck.ai will remain a free service, the company is considering offering access to more advanced AI models through a monthly subscription of $9.99. However, DuckDuckGo has no intentions of creating a separate application for its chatbot, unlike companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. Weinberg explained that the goal is to develop an application that combines both functionalities: "Some queries are better started with chat and others with search. We want the experience to be seamless and available in a single application."
