Somewhat ironic given that DuckDuckGo has AI on by default. You have to either save the settings on the cloud or manually turn off AI when searching using DuckDuckGo. Still a good privacy search engine though.
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
135 points (96.6% liked)
Technology
6835 readers
350 users here now
News community around technology, social media platforms, information technology and governmental policy surrounding it.
What doesn't fit here?
The core of the story has to be technology focused.
- If article mentions "AI" in a sentence and then talks about business economics that doesn't make it tech news.
- Gaming is too many layers removed from technology. There are many dedicated communities that are a better fit for it.
- Transporation is too many layers removed from technology. EVs while use many cool technologies have many dedicated communities that are a better fit for it.
- Entertainment is too many layers removed from technology. While sometimes it can fit here, business or cultural aspects of it are a better fit for dedicated communities.
- Cybersecurity. While it heavily focuses on technology, most of the time it's too technical for most people who are not already invested in it. Should be posted in a dedicated communities unless it has broader connection to other tech areas.
Post guidelines
Title format
Post title should mirror the news source title. If you don't like the title of article, look for an alternative source instead of editorializing it.
URL format
Post URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
[Opinion] prefix
Opinion (op-ed) articles must use [Opinion] prefix before the title. Opinion articles refer to articles that their publisher doesn't explictly endorse.
Country prefix
Country prefix can be added to the title with a separator (|, :, etc.) if the news is from a local publisher who doesn't clearly mention the country.
Rules
1. English only
Title and associated content has to be in English.
2. Use original link
Post URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
3. Respectful communication
All communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. Inclusivity
Everyone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacks
Any kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangents
Stay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may apply
If something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.
Companion communities
!globalnews@lemmy.zip
!interestingshare@lemmy.zip
Icon attribution | Banner attribution
If someone is interested in moderating this community, message @brikox@lemmy.zip.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Wait, it has a quick blurb on by default but actually interacting with it requires an opt in. That seems like a good balance.
In fact doing a search now (duck is my default) it doesn't even offer an ai answer unless I click it first.
I wouldn't call it private as from my experience it uses browser fingerprinting to target users.
Ironically, I left DuckDuckGo and switched to Kagi when DDG announced their AI.
Doesn't Kagi use AI as well now though?
Yep, the Kagi Assistant. I think you can turn it off but like DDG it's on by default.
Performative.
But what about all the AI slop in the web results?
It does also have the option to filter AI generated images from search results.
I don't actually do all that many image searches. I'm usually searching for text based pages, and those results have also gotten super terrible, but this doesn't seem to have any impact on that.
No idea if it's how I have things saved but DDG is just enough AI for me. If I want AI to answer a stupid question without making me bother with shitty SEO spam, great! If I want to find a site, I can! Not costing me anything near as I can tell.
I'm happy enough with DDG. Your use-case will vary.
Their AI is only useful because the quality of search results has gotten so bad.
"Let's mitigate AI hate by putting in more AI!"
The AI is actually fairly useful and can be disabled.
It used to be when you searched for something, it was information first, products second. If you searched bicycle, it would give you the Wikipedia page for bicycle, and then pages related to bicycles, some of which would be retailers. Now it's the other way around, if the informational pages even show up at all.
Forget all the AI bullshit, this is my biggest gripe with search engines today. This is why people use ChatGPT - for all its faults - to search shit that Google used to answer. ChatGPT will confidently lie to you, but it least it gives you an answer instead of trying to sell something to you.
I have to add "Wikipedia" or "stack overflow" or "reddit" to most searches