You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross oh cool! I should make this my default search provider in Firefox
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@ottaross oh cool! I should make this my default search provider in Firefox
@astrovore You might also consider the #Waterfox version of Firefox. They're staying true to the Firefox experience, but removing all the AI junk FF is adopting.
I was reticent at first, but I've been using it now for a couple of months without any complaints.
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross Kind of pointless branding when the top 15 search results are all LLM generated websites anyways. The quality on DDG has fallen off hard in the past two years and unfortunately it seems Google is way ahead in terms of surfacing real information
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@ottaross Kind of pointless branding when the top 15 search results are all LLM generated websites anyways. The quality on DDG has fallen off hard in the past two years and unfortunately it seems Google is way ahead in terms of surfacing real information
@nepi Certainly developers working search have a tough hill to climb to develop algorithms to reliably detect AI slop sites, and down-grade them.
But DDG being poor in their search results and Google being way ahead? Not seeing that at all.
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross Shouldn't need to do this.
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@nepi Certainly developers working search have a tough hill to climb to develop algorithms to reliably detect AI slop sites, and down-grade them.
But DDG being poor in their search results and Google being way ahead? Not seeing that at all.
@ottaross Maybe it depends on what you’re searching, and this is all anecdotal of course. But I can’t count how many times over the past year I’ve typed something into DDG basically knowing what I’m looking for (checking my knowledge) and been met with a wall of obvious slop from generically named websites. Google will also surface things like Reddit or forums where, especially if you have a problem, people are actually discussing that problem and a solution to it. No such luck on DDG.
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross #DuckDuckgo is owned by a privately owned US-company, thereby not subject to GDPR-privacy standards.
It's much better now to switch to the European qwant.com, without AI with this direct link: https://www.qwant.com/?&llm=0
#DigitalRights #democracy #USImperialism #qwant #deGoogle #TechForGood #EU
PS: here a list of EU-software alternatives, with my own experiences: https://mastodon.social/@TheStefan/114259071639384095 -
You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross Well shit
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G gambajo@social.tchncs.de shared this topic
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross wow i don't know about this feature, thanks

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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross I set my DDG preferences to be no AI so I'm pretty sure that's what I get in the OG version.
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross@mastodon.social I think this is a step in the right direction. There is some demand for AI products that promise more privacy.
Assuming that DuckDuckGo is running their own LLM or even paying OpenAI or similar for the API and assuming that OpenAI or whoever acts in good-faith and doesn't save chat contents and assuming DuckDuckGo doesn't share information about you it's a nice to have feature.
This does however mean sharing every search query to an AI company which is concerning. Google already has your search query so adding an AI answer doesn't share your data with anyone, but for DuckDuckGo this is a transfer of personal information which is a biger issue.
Maybe a better alternative would for it to be opt-in and you'll be prompted at the top of your first search to "Enable AI Features" or "No, don't ask me again (you can always change in settings." -
@darwinwoodka Same - it's a good idea.
@ottaross Your post reminded me I've been wanting to do that. Thanks!
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross Looks like setting my browser to use this instead of the raw duckduck is going to be a pain in the, "gotta go scour the web for what should be obvious."
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross there is also duck.ai
would be funny to have noai.duck.ai
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@ottaross I have the NO AI version set up as my preferred search engine
@darwinwoodka how did you do that?
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@darwinwoodka how did you do that?
under "settings" "AI features" "disable duckai"
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@darwinwoodka how did you do that?
@darwinwoodka never mind, I see some helpful instructions in the thread.
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You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
@ottaross If you want to use a non-US search, there's:
https://www.qwant.com and https://www.ecosia.org/ -
You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
it works.