DuckDuckGo is strengthening its AI-powered search and chatbot, giving users more detailed answers while maintaining its strong privacy focus. The AI-generated search answers, which were initially tested with limited sources like Wikipedia, have now been expanded to include information from across the web. The company also plans to gradually increase the frequency of these AI-assisted responses while still allowing users to adjust or disable them.
Alongside these updates, DuckDuckGo’s AI chatbot, Duck.ai, has officially exited beta. The chatbot allows users to interact anonymously with multiple AI models, including GPT-4o mini, Llama 3.3, and Claude 3 Haiku, by masking IP addresses and preventing data from being used for training. A new feature called Recent Chats enables users to store past conversations locally on their devices instead of DuckDuckGo’s servers, reinforcing the company’s privacy commitment.
In the coming weeks, Duck.ai will introduce web search capabilities, improving its ability to provide relevant answers. Additional features such as voice interaction on iOS and Android, along with the ability to upload and analyze images, are also in development. While the chatbot remains free, DuckDuckGo is exploring offering access to more advanced AI models through a $9.99 monthly subscription.
Despite these AI advancements, DuckDuckGo is not launching a separate chatbot app like OpenAI and Google. Instead, the company believes that search and AI chat should be seamlessly integrated within a single experience, allowing users to switch between both as needed. Users can access Duck.ai through the DuckDuckGo browser or the Duck.ai website and find AI-assisted answers directly within the search engine.
