TL;DR – While Google staggers around, drunk on its own Kool Aid, DuckDuckGo proves AI search can be done right
- Google’s AI Overviews can’t be turned off, frustrating users.
- Search is now cluttered with AI content and more ads.
- DuckDuckGo lets you choose how much AI you see—or none at all.
- Duck.ai supports multiple models like ChatGPT and Claude 3.
- Bottom line: DuckDuckGo gives you control. Google doesn’t.
AI isn’t going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean it has to ruin search. DuckDuckGo proves it can be done right.
Know what the top search related to Google’s AI Overviews is?
“How to turn it off.”
You can’t. Why? Because “power users love it,” says Google.
Actual users? Not so much.
After chugging its own Kool-Aid for nearly two years, Google’s lost touch with its user base.
Go on X, Reddit, or ask anyone on the street: Google search is trash now.
Gen Z never really bought into it. And with the AI bloat, nonstop ads, and absence of independent publishers, it’s easy to see why.
Google still controls 90%+ of the search market—while irritating just as many users and triggering existential crises for everyone from Chegg to The New York Times.
It’s now knee-deep in lawsuits, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Businesses want answers: why has Google decided it should now be the source of truth instead of websites, journalists, and academics?
Google Could Fix AI Overviews Tomorrow
It’d take a few lines of code and a toggle button. Let power users have it, let the rest of us turn it off.
And to prove how easy this is? DuckDuckGo just did it.
They’ve doubled down on AI Search—but let users control how much they see.
Don’t want it? Turn it off.
AI-assisted answers, previously called DuckAssist, are an optional feature in our search results that can anonymously generate answers to search queries.
To do this, we scan the web for relevant content and use AI-powered natural language technology to generate a brief answer based on the information found.
AI-assisted responses always link directly to one or two sources, citing where the answer came from, so you can easily go and get more detailed information.
It’s important to remember that responses are auto-generated from cited sources, based on crawling the web.
DuckDuckGo’s Duck.ai gives you model choices—ChatGPT, Claude 3, and more.
Soon, it’ll be baked into search. But if you don’t want it? One click, and it’s gone.
Like a fart in the wind.
