DuckDuckGo is the latest to now hop on the AI trend, after getting into a partnership with OpenAI and Anthropic. The founder, Gabriel Weinberg announced the launch of DuckAssist earlier today.
The new feature is designed to generate natural language answers to search queries made by users using Wikipedia. DuckAssist has been incorporated into DuckDuckGo’s Private Search to align it with the browser’s traditional search results. This is in a bid to enhance usability and provide users with an experience that they are kind of used to.
When you enter a query in the search box, the DuckAssist might appear and use its capabilities to “anonymously generate a brief.” However, this is limited to whether or not Wikipedia can answer the question. Sources from related sites like Britannica will also be considered in some instances.
The motive behind the cap placed on the resources that the feature uses to provide responses is to reduce instances where it begins to hallucinate and provide odd responses. Admittedly, such an occurrence can be traced back to both Microsoft’s and Google’s latest ventures in AI.
Gabriel highlighted that the goal behind this launch is “to add clear value to our private search and browsing experience.” As such, DuckAssist is available to try across DuckDuckGo’s browsing apps and extensions. What’s more, free and private. You don’t need to sign-up or get on a waitlist to access it.
DuckDuckGo indicated that it was launching the new feature since it felt that it would be more impactful and useful now. “We wanted DuckAssist to be the first because we think it can immediately help users find answers to what they are looking for faster,” said Gabriel.
In fact, it’s “the first in a series of generative AI-assisted features” to ship. This means that we are likely to see more features like this rolling out in the next couple of months. This is all dependent on how well DuckAssist works. This will also determine if DuckDuckGo will be expanding DuckAssist to all its users.
The browser prides itself on having a strict privacy policy, thus establishing anonymity when conducting searches. The new entry won’t require you to make any logins, furthermore, your searches won’t be used to train the feature’s models.
We’re likely to see even more companies hop on this AI trend and integrate the technology across their products and service. Share your thoughts with us below.
