Just tested a few searches on the top domain in a private window with no setting changes. It looks like some search terms invoke the AI and others don’t, so that explains some differences people are seeing. I saw no change in behavior between desktop and mobile.
As someone who actually likes AI (local open models only though), I agree it needs to be off by default in all cases purely on the grounds of energy usage.
Luckily there’s https://noai.duckduckgo.com/
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It should be opposite though. They should keep the top domain AI free, and introduce a subdomain with AI.
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If you turn off all ai features in ddg, it turns them back on by itself. It’s infuriating.
Just tested a few searches on the top domain in a private window with no setting changes. It looks like some search terms invoke the AI and others don’t, so that explains some differences people are seeing. I saw no change in behavior between desktop and mobile.
As someone who actually likes AI (local open models only though), I agree it needs to be off by default in all cases purely on the grounds of energy usage.