DuckDuckGo Joins AI Chat, Guarantees Enhanced Anonymity

DuckDuckGo Joins AI Chat, Guarantees Enhanced Anonymity
Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic, screenshot of Duck.ai

DuckDuckGo, a search firm, launched a free and nameless AI Chat service in June 2024. AI Chat joins DuckAssist, which generates solutions primarily based on Wikipedia, as a strategy to discover matters with AI. AI Chat operates with the broadly used prompt-and-response course of popularized by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

However DuckDuckGo’s AI Chat seeks to reduce potential privateness considerations by design. AI Chat affords nameless entry: No account, username, electronic mail tackle, or password wanted. DuckDuckGo guarantees that your prompts and knowledge won’t be used to coach any of the AI fashions. This implies you shouldn’t fear about content material out of your queries being embedded in a response delivered to different folks.

As of September 2024, AI Chat permits you to select to speak with any of 4 chat fashions:

  • GPT-4o mini from OpenAI.
  • Claude 3 Haiku from Anthropic.
  • Llama 3.1 70B, an open-source mannequin from Meta.
  • Mixtral 8x7B, an open-source mannequin from Mistral AI, a French firm.

You could change between fashions at any time, permitting you to check responses. General, DuckDuckGo’s AI Chat gives a easy and free strategy to work together with 4 totally different giant language fashions anonymously.

Get began with DuckDuckGo AI Chat

Open a browser on a cellphone, pc, or pill linked to the web, then:

  1. Go to duck.ai (or duckduckgo.com/chat) and choose the Get Began button.
Duck.ai Get Started.
In your first go to to Duck.ai, choose Get Began.
  1. Subsequent, select a chat mannequin. Most individuals will wish to settle for the default choice of GPT-4o mini from OpenAI. (You could change and experiment with a distinct mannequin any time.)
Choose from GPT-4o mini, Claude 3 Haiku, Llama 3.1 70B, or Mixtral 8x7B models.
Select from GPT-4o mini, Claude 3 Haiku, Llama 3.1 70B, or Mixtral 8x7B fashions.
  1. Evaluation the privateness coverage and phrases of use, after which choose the I Agree button if the phrases are acceptable.
Review and accept terms of use.
Evaluation and settle for phrases of use.
  1. You possibly can then use AI Chat a lot as you’ll every other AI chat system: Enter your immediate, await the response, after which proceed the chat as you want.

Entry AI Chat with search or bangs

DuckDuckGo additionally permits you to change to an AI Chat from a search. On a search outcomes web page, choose the Chat menu merchandise to transform your search question to an AI Chat immediate. The textual content of your search phrases shall be positioned within the immediate field, so you possibly can modify it earlier than you ship the immediate to the system.

Duck.ai Search2Chat.
You could change to an AI Chat from any DuckDuckGo search outcome web page (left) or use a DuckDuckGo bang command, reminiscent of !ai, earlier than your immediate (proper).

DuckDuckGo bang search shortcuts additionally provide !ai and !chat choices. Put both of those shortcuts initially of a DuckDuckGo search to convey the content material to the AI Chat system, somewhat than a typical search. DuckDuckGo affords 1000’s of bangs that will let you ship your search not solely to DuckDuckGo providers but in addition to 3rd events, reminiscent of Google (!g) or Wikipedia (!w).

AI Chat decisions: Copy, change, clear, or proceed

Choose the copy icon — to the top-right of every response — to repeat the textual content of a response to your gadget’s clipboard. Then it’s possible you’ll paste the content material right into a be aware, doc, electronic mail, or textual content area. Since your prompts and responses aren’t linked to an account, be sure that to repeat after which save elsewhere any response you wish to discuss with later. To the fitting of the copy icon is a redo button, a circle with an arrow, that you could be use to trigger the system to generate one other response to your immediate.

Duck.ai options for change, copy, and clear.
Copy a response to the clipboard (higher proper) and paste it elsewhere to reserve it, change to a distinct chat mannequin (higher left), or clear the dialog to start out once more (backside).

Not proud of the response you obtain from one mannequin? Change to a distinct AI Chat mannequin: Choose the Settings icon to the fitting of the chosen mannequin identify, select your required mannequin, after which choose the “Begin a brand new chat” button. Experiment with the obtainable fashions by prompting every with quite a lot of questions and duties. You’ll discover that not solely will the response particulars differ, but in addition that the format might differ as nicely.

Achieved with a thread or prepared to debate a distinct matter? Choose the fireplace icon subsequent to the immediate field to clear the dialog. This erases all content material in your chat, so ensure you’ve copied (and saved) any generated content material from the chat beforehand.

Duck.ai Continue prompt example.
AI Chat, not like a typical search, permits you to ask follow-up questions.

Lastly, one main distinction between customary search and AI chat is which you can proceed the dialog and ask follow-up questions. For instance, a typical DuckDuckGo search will present a set of hyperlinks and probably some key data. If you need a distinct set of hyperlinks, you’d re-do your search. With AI Chat, you possibly can ask a complete sequence of follow-up inquiries to immediate the system to elaborate on a specific element or present further choices.

AI Chat limitations and options

One notable limitation of AI Chat and all 4 obtainable fashions: They lack entry to present web content material. The responses are restricted to information obtainable as of their coaching date. So, once you wish to know details about upcoming or current occasions, change to a typical search.

Just a few internet browser-accessible options to AI Chat are methods reminiscent of:

  • OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
  • Microsoft’s Copilot.
  • Google’s Gemini.
  • Anthropic’s Claude.
  • Meta’s Llama.

One other different is to obtain, set up, and configure a big language mannequin system, reminiscent of Jan, Ollama, or Nomic’s GPT4All. Those that need entry to the highest-rated AI chat methods will probably want to pay — round $20 per 30 days in every case — for ChatGPT Plus, Gemini Superior, or Claude Professional.

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