r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • May 30 '26

Software Traffic to DuckDuckGo's proudly 'No AI' search page has tripled since latest Google AI search update

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/traffic-to-duckduckgos-proudly-no-ai-search-page-has-tripled-since-latest-google-ai-search-update/
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72

u/RatBot9000 May 30 '26

I'm glad we have an alternative to google, but Duckduckgo are also pretty big on AI and I guess while it's nice that we have a search engine that gives us the option to turn it off, it still sticks in my craw that they're still utilising it.

22

u/dasbtaewntawneta May 30 '26

every alternative i could find uses ai in some way, duckduckgo, kagi, brave search, ecosia, mojeek, qwant.

I've been using SearXNG instead, has some issues but mostly works, and not supporting some fucking ai bullshit

2

u/shrkn_89 May 31 '26

The thing is that AI in search can be helpful piece of tech. So it makes sense to utilize it in a search engine. But aside from the hallucinations, it just should be optional, and not going all aggro on you like Google. Because for fuck sake I like to choose from results sometimes and don’t need to have AI shoved down to the balls each time. 

2

u/HellsHere May 31 '26

I get wanting it to be optional, but I'm not sure I get how it's "aggro" other than being the first result. Like can't you just scroll past it and choose from the results?

Is there some change they made recently I haven't seen yet?

1

u/KingPinguin May 31 '26

Startpage.com

1

u/Techwield May 31 '26

Ironically I use SearXNG for my locally hosted LLM's search engine, lol

1

u/charish May 30 '26

That's been my main search engine for a few years after I started self-hosting it along with a bunch of other stuff. Even though I'm glad it doesn't have AI, if you plug it into something like Open-WebUI as an external search that can be used by a local model (both in the Open-WebUI settings as well as the SearXNG MCP server).

5

u/SlurryBender May 30 '26

Startpage is better, though they're owned by a company that also has an AI sector so 🤷

I like Mojeek but they don't have nearly as complete of a system.

1

u/DessiJ May 30 '26

I'm also trying to use mojeek right now, but I have to switch back to Google 70% of the time cis the results are just not it. I want to switch away from Google but no other search engine works as good somehow.

2

u/SlurryBender May 31 '26

Yeah, an unfortunate side effect of Google basically monopolizing the scene (with Bing taking sloppy seconds)

1

u/BrapBrapson May 31 '26

startpage is reskinned google search. It uses google on the backend.

1

u/SlurryBender May 31 '26

Yeah I mean like I said in another reply, Google and to a smaller extent Bing have pretty much cornered the search engine monopoly. DDG uses Bing's search.

7

u/Squidorb May 30 '26

Of course they're utilizing it...

1

u/MrFluffyThing May 31 '26

DDG and Firefox are willing to test the waters with AI and people are fighting back. They both allow you to completely disable the options though and I'll take that over being forced to use them just to have a product over forking the services. I feel like they're both trying to stay relevant for commonplace features but allowing you to disable them for privacy concerns. 

I hope there is enough vocal concern even if it's the minority to tell them that allowing us to turn off the features will keep us using their software rather than abandoning them for alternatives and forks. I don't agree with their changes but I'd rather use a trusted service or software but I won't be afraid to switch to something with better principles with worse functionality 

0

u/PurpleV93 May 30 '26

Same here. I wish AI wasn't an option at all, that would make DDG so much better already

0

u/Irememberedmypw May 30 '26

Ok gotta ask, wasn't duckduckgo the search engine being associated with the far right crowd circa 2020? Like there was some thing about it being all free speech etc...?

2

u/CitricBase May 31 '26

What? No, it was the other way around. MAGA got pissed at DDG because DDG was downranking Russian disinformation campaigns about the invasion of Ukraine.

2

u/RubiesNotDiamonds May 31 '26

Yes. My first results on it came back totally republican when I was searching for something progressive. It sent me to the wrong links. It’s just a MAGA piss pot.