Generative AI has been a buzzword in the tech industry for quite some time now, with major players like Google and Microsoft releasing their language-generation AIs. However, privacy-conscious search engine DuckDuckGo is taking a more restrained approach with the launch of its beta version of DuckAssist, an AI-assisted feature that generates accurate summaries to answer users’ search queries.
Unlike other generative AI search assistants that source information from thousands of websites, DuckAssist uses only Wikipedia and Britannica to prevent incorrect information from being used when generating answers. This approach distinguishes it from Brave Search’s AI-powered Summarizer, which sources its content from news portals and is sometimes susceptible to false or misleading information.
DuckDuckGo believes that Wikipedia is a relatively reliable and transparent organization on a wide range of topics and that its sources can be easily traced through cited citations. This makes it the primary data source for DuckAssist.
While DuckAssist is expected to make mistakes when trying to answer particularly complex questions, users can share their feedback anonymously via the link below the summary box. DuckDuckGo notes that during the initial trial period, DuckAssist will only work for user queries that can provide a clear answer with limited resources.
Despite its limited scope, the combination of DuckAssist’s generative AI and Wikipedia means that users can greatly increase the number of instant answers they can provide. Plus, since DuckDuckGo values anonymity, DuckAssist is fully integrated with its private search engine and does not record user queries or browsing history.
While it may not be as expansive as other language generation AIs, it has the potential to provide users with faster and more reliable answers to their search queries.
