DuckDuckGo Introduces Anonymous AI Chat Service

DuckDuckGo has launched a new feature, DuckDuckGo AI Chat, providing an anonymous way to interact with popular AI chatbots.

The service currently supports OpenAI's GPT 3.5 Turbo, Anthropic's Claude 3 Haiku, and two open-source models—Meta Llama 3 and Mistral's Mixtral 8x7B—with more models to be added soon. The feature is free to use within a daily limit and can be easily disabled if desired.

Privacy and anonymity

All chats conducted through DuckDuckGo AI Chat are private and anonymized, ensuring that no personal information is used for AI model training. DuckDuckGo emphasizes its commitment to privacy by routing requests through its own servers, thereby masking users' IP addresses. The service also includes a Fire Button to clear chats and start fresh.

The company's approach ensures that all AI-assisted features are optional and can be switched off if not needed. DuckDuckGo AI Chat ensures user anonymity by stripping all identifiable metadata and preventing chats from being tied back to individuals. Temporary storage by model providers is anonymized and deleted within 30 days, adhering to strict privacy agreements.

DuckDuckGo AI Chat offers a seamless integration with DuckDuckGo Private Search, allowing users to switch effortlessly between traditional search results and AI-assisted queries. This functionality is particularly useful for users exploring new topics, as it combines the strengths of both search and AI chat to provide comprehensive information.

Get started

AI Chat can be accessed directly through various DuckDuckGo platforms and shortcuts. Users can start an AI chat from the search results page or initiate a chat directly via specific URLs and shortcuts.

To experience DuckDuckGo AI Chat, visit duck.ai or duckduckgo.com/chat. Users can also find it under the Chat tab on search results pages or start a query with !ai or !chat. For those preferring traditional search methods, AI Chat can be disabled in the Search settings menu.

DuckDuckGo invites user feedback to help shape the future of AI Chat, with plans to introduce new features and capabilities based on user suggestions.

A paid plan is also being considered to offer higher daily usage limits and access to more advanced models. Custom system prompts and enhanced user experience features are also on the roadmap.