The privacy-conscious browser DuckDuckGo comes with its own chatbot. AI Chat allows users to freely choose between models such as GPT-3.5, Claude, Llama and Mistral.
In the meantime, we have become so used to chatbot integration in our browser that DuckDuckGo did not want to be left behind. The company has been working on its chatbot for several months test it outbut as of today AI Chat officially available for everyone.
AI Chat is flexible
The big difference with standalone bots such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT is that DuckDuckGo does not have to fall back on its own large language model (LLM). Via the privacy-oriented browser you simply get access to multiple chatbots, in one place. Currently, AI Chat lets you choose between GPT 3.5 (OpenAI), Claude 3 Haiku (Anthropic), Llama 3 (Meta) and Mistral 8x7B. DuckDuckGo also announces that the offering will be further expanded. The main difference between the models that you can use in AI Chat are in the settings of the LLM that you can tweak to have your questions answered. If you find one language model not very helpful, you can always switch to another.
AI Chat is free, but the number of chats you can have has a daily limit. DuckDuckGo says it will offer paid plans, which will increase the limit and give you access to more advanced AI models.
Focus op privacy
Since DuckDuckGo markets itself as a privacy-conscious browser, it should come as no surprise that it wants to uphold that reputation. Chat AI would handle your data more discreetly than within the applications and interfaces of ChatGPT or Claude itself. According to DuckDuckGo, your questions and their answers would also not be used to train AI. “We address the AI models on your behalf, so that your IP address is not passed on, but ours is,” wrote Nirzar Pangarkar, chief designer at DuckDuckGo, in an email. blog.
AI Chat is also completely separate from DuckAssist, another AI tool that DuckDuckGo incorporated into its browser last year. This can show you AI-generated summaries at the top of the search results. The company behind the browser believes that AI Chat and DuckAssist will complement each other well. “When you start a search, you can then switch to AI Chat to ask further questions, to help structure the information you found or to quickly find answers to new questions. It depends on your personal preference,” Pangarkar added.
