DuckDuckGo AI Chat Exits Beta: GenAI Focus

DuckDuckGo Deepens Integration of Generative AI with Duck.ai

The privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo, is significantly expanding its utilization of generative AI technologies. The company is evolving its approach to AI assistance within its core product offerings.

Duck.ai Exits Beta and Rebrands

DuckDuckGo’s AI chatbot interface, initially launched last fall as DuckDuckGo AI Chat, has now officially exited its beta phase. It has been simplified and is now known as Duck.ai.

Users accessing Duck.ai can engage with AI models from prominent developers such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta. This interaction occurs through a conversational interface, transforming search queries into dialogue-based interactions.

Expanded AI Model Access

The range of AI models available on Duck.ai has been broadened recently. New additions include OpenAI’s o3-mini, Meta’s Llama 3.3, and Mistral’s Small 3, providing users with a wider selection of AI capabilities.

Currently, Duck.ai is offered without charge, but a query limit is in place. DuckDuckGo is investigating the possibility of a premium subscription plan that would grant access to higher query limits and more sophisticated, albeit costly, AI models.

GenAI Integration into Traditional Search

Alongside Duck.ai, DuckDuckGo is increasing the frequency of AI-assisted answers within its standard search results at duck.com and duckduckgo.com. These are generative AI text summaries appearing above the conventional list of web links.

The company reports serving millions of these AI-assisted answers daily, with the potential for them to appear in over 20% of searches for users who have opted to display them frequently.

User Control Over AI Integration

Despite this increased integration, DuckDuckGo emphasizes user control. Users can customize the frequency of AI-generated answers, choosing from options like “sometimes” (the default), “often,” “on-demand,” or “never.”

Responding to Market Trends

DuckDuckGo’s moves reflect the broader industry shift driven by the rise of generative AI. Google, the dominant search engine, has been actively integrating AI responses into its search results in response to the popularity of tools like ChatGPT.

Privacy as a Differentiator

DuckDuckGo believes its commitment to privacy provides a unique advantage. The company offers access to leading GenAI tools while minimizing privacy risks, as users are not required to create accounts with AI providers.

According to DuckDuckGo’s privacy policy, chats are anonymized and not used for AI model training. This ensures a private and optional AI experience.

Data Handling and Privacy Agreements

While DuckDuckGo prioritizes privacy, it acknowledges that personal data included in search queries may be processed by the underlying language model providers. However, this data is not linked to user identities through IP masking and other techniques.

The company maintains agreements with all providers to ensure that any temporarily stored chats are completely deleted within 30 days.

Seamless Switching Between Search Modes

DuckDuckGo has implemented a feature allowing users to easily switch between its traditional search interface and the AI chat interface. A chat button below the search box instantly redirects users to the AI chat, pre-populating the prompt field with their previous search query.

Returning to the conventional web search is equally simple, requiring a single tap on the same button.

Expanding Source Transparency

DuckDuckGo has expanded the sources used for its AI-assisted answers beyond Wikipedia to include information from across the web. It also provides “prominent source links” to offer greater transparency regarding the basis of the AI-generated responses.

Local Chat Storage and Control

A “Recent Chats” feature stores user conversations locally on their devices, rather than on DuckDuckGo’s servers. Users have the option to disable this storage entirely if they prefer no record of their interactions to be kept.

Duck.ai chats are not utilized for AI training purposes, either by DuckDuckGo or the model providers. Temporary storage by providers is subject to metadata removal and deletion within 30 days.