DuckDuckGo leans further into GenAI as its AI chat interface exits beta

DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine, is diving deeper into the world of generative AI. Over the past year, they've been playing around with AI assistance, and last fall, they launched a chatbot-style interface called Duck.ai. Now, they've announced that Duck.ai is out of beta and has ditched its longer name, DuckDuckGo AI Chat, for the simpler Duck.ai.

With Duck.ai, users can tap into AI models from big names like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta through a conversational interface. Instead of getting a list of links, you get AI-generated answers to your search queries, powered by some of the latest AI tech that DuckDuckGo is bringing to the table. They've even expanded the models available, adding OpenAI's o3-mini, Meta's Llama 3.3, and Mistral's Small 3 to the mix.

Right now, using Duck.ai won't cost you a dime, but there's a cap on how many queries you can make each day. DuckDuckGo is thinking about introducing a paid plan that would let you ask more questions and access even fancier (and pricier) chat models.

At the same time, DuckDuckGo is beefing up the use of generative AI in its regular search engine at duck.com or duckduckgo.com. They're showing AI-assisted answers more often, popping up as text summaries above the usual blue links. They're serving up millions of these AI-assisted answers every day, and if you set your search results to show them often, you'll see them over 20% of the time.

Even as they get more into GenAI, DuckDuckGo is careful to let users decide how much AI chatter they want to see. You can pick how often AI-generated answers pop up, with "sometimes" as the default, and other choices like "often," "on-demand," or "never" if you're not into the AI scene.

DuckDuckGo is jumping on the GenAI bandwagon as it shakes up the digital world and search engines in particular. Google's been quick to catch up with the buzz around OpenAI's ChatGPT, embedding its own AI-generated responses into search results. They've even been trying out an AI Mode that skips links entirely for AI summaries.

So, what's DuckDuckGo's edge in this race? They're sticking to their privacy promise, letting you use major GenAI tools without the usual privacy risks. You don't need to sign up with an AI giant to use Duck.ai. Their privacy policy states that "Duck.ai allows you to use models from leading model providers without being tracked." Plus, your chats are anonymized and never used to train AI models, according to DuckDuckGo.

Their pitch? Enjoy GenAI without anyone snooping on you. But, if you dig into the full Duck.ai privacy policy, you'll see that if your search queries include personal info, it might end up on the servers of those big language model makers. Still, DuckDuckGo says it's not linked back to your digital identity because they mask your IP and other stuff.

To make it easier to blend GenAI into your search routine, DuckDuckGo lets you switch between their regular search engine and AI chat with ease. There's a chat button under the search box that zaps you right over to the AI chat interface, with your search query already filled in. Want to go back to regular search? Just tap the button again, and you're back.

DuckDuckGo says some folks like starting in chat mode and then switching to traditional search when needed, while others do the opposite. They figure some questions just work better in one mode or the other. So, they're offering both, making it easy to switch, and even throwing in an off switch for those who want to steer clear of AI altogether.

(Just a heads up, the chat button is optional, so you can turn it off in settings if you don't want the nudge toward GenAI.)

DuckDuckGo started with just Wikipedia as the source for their AI-assisted answers, but now they pull from all over the web, with "prominent source links" to give you more info on what's behind the AI answers.

They've also added a "Recent Chats" feature that keeps your conversations with the AI search interface on your device, not on DuckDuckGo or any other remote servers. You can turn off this storage if you don't want any record of your chats, even on your own device.

DuckDuckGo assures that "Duck.ai chats are not used for any AI training, either by us or the underlying model providers." The providers might store chats temporarily to give you answers and make sure everything's running smoothly, but DuckDuckGo strips out all the metadata so there's no way to link the chats back to you. Plus, they've got agreements with all the providers to delete any saved chats within 30 days.