Use duckduckgo!

The other day, I was peeking over at my dad's phone when I noticed that when he searched something on safari, he didn't get any "AI overview" like what has become commonplace on google. I noticed he was using Duckduckgo, and I asked him about it. He told me it felt nicer to use so he has been using it. Here are some of the pros and cons for me as I've been using it on my phone and laptop for the past 2 weeks. 

The first main features that I think will make most people very excited is the ability to turn off AI search overview AND filter AI images. Duckduckgo allows you to set how often you want AI overview to pop up. That's the best part, that you get the choice. You're able to completely turn it off or leave it on demand, or just show up naturally. The next part, is the ability to filter AI images. As far as I'm concerned, this feature relies on users reporting images as AI, which is a good reason why I'm writing this blog. It would be great if people read this blog, became users of Duckduckgo, and passively reported images that are AI during their time using it. 

Also, duckduckgo pushes significantly less reddit that google. Something I've noticed after using duckduckgo is just how much google pushes reddit. The first or second result on google is almost always something on reddit. Reddit is no longer the "front page of the internet." It's one of the most polarized platforms of all time, with plenty misinformation, bitter people and mods with superiority complexes on it, and a lot of bots. Not to mention, a lot of AI is trained on reddit (reddit sold tons of user content to OpenAI to train with). When searching something on duckduckgo I usually get an article that would've been the 4th or 5th result on google search. It feels like how old google was, when it worked. 

Duckduckgo also prides themself on privacy. In all honestly, I don't completely trust that any search browser doesn't have some sort of trackers in it. It's just how search engines and SEO works. Despite this, Duckduckgo still feels miles ahead of Google and Bing. The best bet is to use uBlock origin alongside duckduckgo for maximum security. You also get customization options too.  

 

The primary con is people use duckduckgo less. Because of this, search results might not be as polished as google. Google is simply the default for a lot of people now. So google simply has more traffic and can fine tune their searches exceptionally. 

Switching to duckduckgo is really easy too. For my phone, all I needed to do was go to safari settings and switch my primary search engine to duckduckgo. On my laptop, it's even easier. I use firefox, and the option to switch is right there on the search bar. If you're reading this, give duckduckgo a shot for a day or two! You likely wouldn't need to download anything, because most browsers have a setting you can switch to it instantly.