DuckDuckGo has announced that its free AI tools are now out of beta, allowing users to access advanced chatbots without compromising their personal data.
The company’s AI features include Duck.ai and Assist, which grant users access to multiple AI chatbots through a single platform. The upgraded models now available on Duck.ai include OpenAI’s GPT-4 mini and o3-mini, Anthropic’s Claude 3 Haiku, Meta Llama 3.3, and Mistral Small 3.
Unlike other AI-powered tools that collect user data, DuckDuckGo’s chatbot chats are stripped of personal metadata to prevent misuse by cybercriminals. The company stores recent chats locally on the device, except as needed for providers to respond to prompts, and has agreements in place to limit how data can be used for training.
Another new feature is an AI-powered answer tool called Assist, which pulls answers from across the internet instead of relying solely on Wikipedia. DuckDuckGo recognizes that these answers may have errors and sources are displayed alongside Assists’ answers to provide context.
The company says its AI features are free to use without an account, with a daily chat limit for normal day-to-day use. However, it plans to offer a paid service in the future to give users access to more chat models and higher chat limits.
DuckDuckGo emphasizes that users don’t have to rely on these AI tools if they’re concerned about privacy or accuracy. Users can turn off the chat features at any time through DuckDuckGo’s search settings, and limit the frequency of Assist’s answers as desired.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/duckduckgos-free-ai-tools-are-now-out-of-beta