DuckDuckGo is a search engine that prioritises user privacy by not tracking search history or collecting personal data from its users. It does not use a filter bubble and ensures that its users get the same unbiased search results, regardless of previous searches.
DuckDuckGo announced the poll on Reddit, asking users whether they were OK with a technology that didn’t seem designed for them to change how they searched the internet.
“AI is everywhere. Did anyone give you a choice?” the search engine wrote on Reddit.
“Some people want it. Some don’t. Many aren’t sure yet – and that’s okay. But it can feel like AI is being built for someone else’s vision of the future, not yours.
“So we’re asking a simple question: Where do you stand on AI?
“Your answer, whatever it is, helps make the case that optionality matters.
“At DuckDuckGo, you decide how AI shows up for you. We think that should be the norm.”
Despite Google implementing AI overviews and an AI mode into its search engine, users of DuckDuckGo have voted overwhelmingly against having AI in the search engine. Of the 61,487 votes so far, 93 per cent said they were against having AI in search.
Even so, DuckDuckGo is giving its users the option. After voting no, users are given a link to an AI-less version of the search engine.
“We’ve turned off AI-assisted answers,” the homepage said.
“We’ve removed AI-generated images.”
DuckDuckGo has presented itself as a stark contrast to search engine titan Google, which has no full off switch for its AI features.
Google’s famed overviews aren’t a reliable tool, as it proved itself after removing the feature from some medical searches after the AI shared misleading medical information.
Users who searched questions like “What is the normal range for liver blood tests?”, the AI shared results that didn’t take into account factors like age, sex, nationality and ethnicity. This resulted in answers that gave readers results that appeared safe, but may not have been.
Responding to a report by The Guardian, Google announced it had removed the feature.
“In cases where AI Overviews miss some context, we work to make broad improvements, and we also take action under our policies where appropriate,” it said.
While the AI Overviews were removed from select searches, altered search terms like “LFT reference range” proved a workaround that could still lead to misinformation generation.
This story was originally published by Cyber Daily’s sister brand, AI Daily.
Daniel Croft