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DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

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Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#51

Post by Vrondi »

TekMol wrote: post #7
bashy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But; "If the trial goes well, we plan to roll it out to all DuckDuckGo search users soon."

That is the same playbook by which Microsoft plays this game. MS: "IT IS OPEN FOR EVERYBODY TO TRY!" Me: Ok, let me try it. MS: Ahem, ok, just give us your email Me: What? Ok, dammit, here it is. MS: Ok, now install our browser. Me: What?? Ok, done. MS: Ok, now allow us to track your location. Me: What??? No! MS: Sorry, something went wrong. Me: What? MS: Sorry, something went wrong. Me: What about the chat thing? MS…

At least MS doesn't demand an active cell phone number through which they can physically track you everywhere you go (not just where you are right now), like ChatGPT (VOIP and landlines not accepted, only cell).

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#52

Post by pasc1878 »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #42
eur0pa wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly correct. Browsers can block ads, trackers, Javascript libraries, and elements at will using extensions. "Native" apps for web services, such as these Electron-wrapped clients, have full access to the trackers / analytics endpoints, and more. That's a big nono.

It's not watertight, but controlling your own DNS, as through pi-hole, helps protect against this.

Rather difficult to do that when on a phone.

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#53

Post by causi »

CatWChainsaw wrote: post #43

Something something, lame duck joke. I really do not see any wisdom in turning search engines into answer engines. Yes, they're bespoke toys today , and you can still search the web alongside asking a LLM for an answer. But the day this becomes the default, it just becomes a countdown to the day "search" is depreciated entirely. And then rather than "doing your own research", you get to pick which Big Tech silo you t…

I can't imagine the disasters that would result from getting answers from a search engine instead of human-written documents. Maybe it's an inconvenience to get the wrong showtimes for a movie but what about when you're asking about the weather on your long distance hiking trip? Whether it's legal for you to carry your gun on your trip downtown? This is going to cause so much damage.

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#54

Post by furyofantares »

I'm sure it makes sense to start with wikipedia and instant-answer type searches from a tech standpoint if that's what you can iterate on best, and if you've got ideas for preventing confident falsehoods.

It's also the type of search where I'm sure this addition is least valuable. If I'm searching for a discrete fact that I know exists, stuff that you find on wikipedia, that's the type of search that still works fine. Instant answers are convenient but not necessary.

Often when I'm trying to solve a problem I need to break it down into more generic, smaller components, discrete pieces of information that I know exist, then search for those and recombine/recontextualize the information I got. Or branch out into new searches based on anything that was an "unknown unknown" before the initial search.

I'm hoping LLMs can help with both of these things. Allow me to search for something closer to the problem I'm actually solving rather than requiring me to break it down into components; do the recombination for me and do some of the branching for me.

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#55

Post by pc_edwin »

CatWChainsaw wrote: post #43

Something something, lame duck joke. I really do not see any wisdom in turning search engines into answer engines. Yes, they're bespoke toys today , and you can still search the web alongside asking a LLM for an answer. But the day this becomes the default, it just becomes a countdown to the day "search" is depreciated entirely. And then rather than "doing your own research", you get to pick which Big Tech silo you t…

Being able to search a ranked index of sources is extremely powerful but thats nothing compared what is possible when you can outsource intelligence.

In other words, when you can outsource the part of cognition where you need to understand the problem, go through the ranked sources, find the right answer and digest it in right way.

This is unbelievably powerful, comparing it to horse carriages vs cars does not do it justice, we are talking about Jarvis in real life!

P.S. I have some colourful opinions about the kind of thinking thats leads to your comment but I'll keep that to myself since its likely to attract scrutiny or censure

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#56

Post by psychphysic »

yegg wrote: post #41

Hi all, I'm the author of this post (and the CEO/Founder of DuckDuckGo). Happy to take a few questions about how DuckAssist works, but to clarify what I think may be some confusion from the other comments, we're not just asking a LLM to summarize Wikipedia from its training, nor did we train an LLM on Wikipedia -- instead, we use our own Wikipedia index to pull out the relevant sentences, and then ask the LLM to veri…

It still has the issue of treating some groups differently based on protected characteristics. What's being done about that?

For example "what is most attractive about men?" Produces an answer, but not if asked about 'women'.

And "why do men earn more?" Doesn't activate duckassist but "why do women earn less?" Does.

Well it did load must be overwhelming at the moment.

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#57

Post by themodelplumber »

CatWChainsaw wrote: post #43

Something something, lame duck joke. I really do not see any wisdom in turning search engines into answer engines. Yes, they're bespoke toys today , and you can still search the web alongside asking a LLM for an answer. But the day this becomes the default, it just becomes a countdown to the day "search" is depreciated entirely. And then rather than "doing your own research", you get to pick which Big Tech silo you t…

Who Are You gives a pretty nice combination of search results and LLM responses to questions. I find it helpful to see that the responses also include community sites like Reddit, so in effect you can move from LLM to more-human responses or discussions fluidly in a lot of cases.

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#59

Post by CosmicShadow »

This just seems like a faster way to infect people with incorrect information. I mean every result returned will soon enough just be AI generated articles with that incorrect information, and you are saving us a step from clicking, but I'm getting sick of seeing this stuff.

If you can't do the job right and make sure the answer is right, then you shouldn't be publishing anything, or you are just damaging people and eroding trust. Returning search results in a fuzzy way I can't understand or fault you for is one thing and gives you plausible deniability, but not this. I'm all for Google alternatives (I use DDG), but this is definitely a turn off. Put the time into finding the right search result that actually has an accurate answer and just point me to that as the first result. Hell add a sublink that points to the actual answer on that page below the main result, but get rid of the gimmick that is AI.

Less hallucination is still hallucination.

Re: DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

#60

Post by oidar »

yegg wrote: post #41

Hi all, I'm the author of this post (and the CEO/Founder of DuckDuckGo). Happy to take a few questions about how DuckAssist works, but to clarify what I think may be some confusion from the other comments, we're not just asking a LLM to summarize Wikipedia from its training, nor did we train an LLM on Wikipedia -- instead, we use our own Wikipedia index to pull out the relevant sentences, and then ask the LLM to veri…

Thank you for paving the way for user privacy in the search arena. The ability to generate tons of content with LLMs is going to be overwhelming by the summer. The worry that I have regarding future search is that we need a way to defend against SEO generated by these LLMs and non-useful LLM outputs in general. Is there a way that LLMs can be used to help in this effort? I feel like we are going to have to go back to altavista style directory results to defend against LLM generated content. Any plans in this area?
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