DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine, has announced significant updates to its AI search tool, which has exited beta and now incorporates results from across the web, not just Wikipedia. The company's AI-generated answers, originally called DuckAssist, were first launched in 2023 and are designed to offer more concise responses while allowing users to adjust how often they see them, including the option to turn them off entirely.

The AI search summaries will display the websites used to inform the answers, providing transparency and accountability. Additionally, some AI-assisted answers will bring up a box for follow-up questions, redirecting users to a conversation with DuckDuckGo's AI chatbot, Duck.ai. Notably, users don't need an account to use Duck.ai, and it comes with the same emphasis on privacy as the search engine.

Duck.ai, which has also exited beta, allows users to toggle between different AI models, including GPT-4o mini, o3-mini, Llama 3.3, Mistral Small 3, and Claude 3 Haiku. The advantage of using Duck.ai is that users can interact with each model anonymously by hiding their IP address. DuckDuckGo has agreements with the AI companies behind each model to ensure user data isn't used for training.

A new feature called Recent Chats has been added to Duck.ai, which stores previous conversations locally on the user's device rather than on DuckDuckGo's servers. This move further emphasizes the company's commitment to user privacy. In the next few weeks, Duck.ai will add support for web search, enhancing its ability to respond to questions. Furthermore, the company is working on adding voice interaction on iPhone and Android, as well as the ability to upload images and ask questions about them.

While DuckDuckGo is considering including access to more advanced AI models with its $9.99 per month subscription, the company has no plans to create a separate app for its AI chatbot. According to CEO Gabriel Weinberg, "the end state is that really the ultimate app mixes all these things... We think some queries are better to start with chat, some are better to start with search. A lot of them, you could start with either. Then sometimes you want to flow between. And if you're flowing between, kind of fluidly like that, it's a better experience to have it in one app."

This approach sets DuckDuckGo apart from other tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Meta, which are developing separate apps for their AI chatbots. The integration of AI search and chat capabilities within a single app could provide a more seamless and efficient user experience.

As AI technology continues to evolve, DuckDuckGo's commitment to user privacy and transparency will be crucial in building trust with its users. The company's efforts to expand its AI search capabilities while maintaining a focus on user experience and privacy could potentially disrupt the traditional search engine landscape.

Users can try out DuckDuckGo's chatbot on the Duck.ai website or the DuckDuckGo browser, as well as find AI-assisted answers in the DuckDuckGo search engine. With its latest updates, DuckDuckGo is poised to become a significant player in the AI search and chatbot market.