DuckDuckGo makes its ‘no-AI’ search engine easier to access as its traffic booms
DuckDuckGo has made its "no-AI" search engine more accessible through new browser extensions, catering to a growing user base seeking an AI-free search experience. This move comes as the company sees a significant surge in traffic following Google's AI-first revamp of its own search engine, indicating a sustained shift in user preference toward alternative search options. The extensions aim to provide a consistent AI-free search experience across different browsers.
DuckDuckGo, an alternative search engine, has introduced new browser extensions to make its "no-AI" search experience more accessible. These extensions allow users to set noai.duckduckgo.com, a version of its search engine free from AI-assisted answers, chat prompts, and excessive AI images, as their default search option. This initiative reflects a growing sentiment among users who prefer a search experience uninfluenced by artificial intelligence. The extensions are currently available for Chrome and Firefox, while users of the DuckDuckGo web browser already benefit from preserved AI settings.
The company states that these extensions are designed to create a consistent AI-free search environment. This consistency is becoming increasingly important as major search engines, such as Google, integrate AI more deeply into their core functionalities, following announcements like Google's AI-first revamp earlier in May.
DuckDuckGo has reported a significant increase in traffic since the shift in Google's search strategy. Web visits to its no-AI search page increased by nearly 30% week-over-week, with U.S. app installs rising by 18.1% and iOS app installs experiencing a substantial 69.9% week-over-week growth. This sustained growth indicates a clear user preference for alternatives to AI-driven search.
Google's recent overhaul, the most significant in over 25 years, prioritizes AI-generated search overviews and interactive experiences, pushing traditional "10 blue links" further down the page. This change, which can include visualizations, charts, and even mini-applications, coupled with an AI Mode chat experience for follow-up questions, has prompted many users to seek out alternatives like DuckDuckGo and Kagi.
Despite offering a "no-AI" search option, DuckDuckGo is not an anti-AI company. It also provides its own AI chatbot, which accesses various popular models, and a subscription plan that includes access to advanced AI models and other services like a VPN, identity theft restoration, and personal information removal.
Related articles
Build real agentic apps using CUGA: two dozen working examples on a lightweight harness
CUGA, IBM's open-source Agent Harness, simplifies building agentic applications by handling infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on tools and prompts. It offers pre-assembled components for planning, execution, and state management, significantly reducing development time. CUGA has topped agent benchmarks like AppWorld and WebArena.
OpenAI launches new initiative to help find and patch open source bugs
OpenAI has launched "Patch the Planet," a new initiative in partnership with cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits, to enhance the security of open-source projects. This program aims to assist maintainers in identifying and patching bugs, utilizing OpenAI's AI-powered security tools while reducing the burden on project teams.
PP-OCRv6 on Hugging Face: 50-Language OCR from 1.5M to 34.5M Parameters
Baidu has released PP-OCRv6, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) model supporting 50 languages. Available on Hugging Face, this version significantly improves accuracy and efficiency across various parameter sizes, from 1.5 million to 34.5 million, marking a substantial leap in multilingual OCR technology.