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Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

kagifeedback.org

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Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#61

Post by lemontheme »

senko wrote: post #42

I use Kagi search all the time. I often use the Quick Answer feature (append "?" at the end of the query, gives an AI overview/answer, then standard search results below). I never use the full Assistant - I have ChatGPT and Claude for chatbot use cases. I like Quick Answer because of its ligtweight UX. Ctrl-T for a new tab in any browser window, type the question, get the answer. This is faster and mentally lighter t…

This is generally how I use it too. Every now and then I click through to the assistant for follow-up questions. I appreciate that it’s there, even if I use it infrequently. The default kimi model gives surprisingly good answers too

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#62

Post by zetanor »

Strangely: "Searches are, unexpectedly, more expensive for us to serve than AI. A user that does only traditional searches (not using Assistant) will cost more on our end than someone using AI + search."

https://kagifeedback.org/d/1338-provide-a-plan-without-ai-fu...

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#63

Post by sshine »

For a beautiful 6 months before the frontier labs were able to search as part of their responses, Kagi had an edge here. This was when the “AIs hallucinate!” meme was thriving and my response was “Wait, your AI AGENT doesn’t provide references?” and I felt very cutting edge then.

Now that frontier labs have search, generalised tool use, memory, I no longer use The Agent. Haven’t done so for months. I still find great value in Kagi’s FastGPT even though this overlaps with many search engines today. It works well and I don’t pay with my privacy. But there’s no Agent edge any more, Claude wins.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#64

Post by EbNar »

zetanor wrote: post #62

Strangely: "Searches are, unexpectedly, more expensive for us to serve than AI. A user that does only traditional searches (not using Assistant) will cost more on our end than someone using AI + search." https://kagifeedback.org/d/1338-provide-a-plan-without-ai-fu...

Yeah, that reply is a mildly infuriating, in view of what they're planning.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#65

Post by luke5441 »

zetanor wrote: post #62

Strangely: "Searches are, unexpectedly, more expensive for us to serve than AI. A user that does only traditional searches (not using Assistant) will cost more on our end than someone using AI + search." https://kagifeedback.org/d/1338-provide-a-plan-without-ai-fu...

How can this be true? Should I not worry about margin compression at Google due to heavy cap-ex requirements anymore? Is this temporary because Kagi got a good deal for tokens? Are they paying through their noses for the Google search API calls? I don't get it.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#66

Post by techjamie »

luke5441 wrote: post #65
zetanor wrote: post #62

Strangely: "Searches are, unexpectedly, more expensive for us to serve than AI. A user that does only traditional searches (not using Assistant) will cost more on our end than someone using AI + search." https://kagifeedback.org/d/1338-provide-a-plan-without-ai-fu...

How can this be true? Should I not worry about margin compression at Google due to heavy cap-ex requirements anymore? Is this temporary because Kagi got a good deal for tokens? Are they paying through their noses for the Google search API calls? I don't get it.

Because they pay API costs to send the search to SerpApi. I forget exactly what the cost was for them per-search and I'm having little luck finding it, but I know they've published that cost before and I know it's more than a whole cent. By comparison, running a good but not top-tier model to answer the same question might run a small fraction of a cent. Cheaper than a follow up query by the user.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#68

Post by DamnInteresting »

zetanor wrote: post #62

Strangely: "Searches are, unexpectedly, more expensive for us to serve than AI. A user that does only traditional searches (not using Assistant) will cost more on our end than someone using AI + search." https://kagifeedback.org/d/1338-provide-a-plan-without-ai-fu...

> A user that does only traditional searches (not using Assistant) will cost more on our end than someone using AI + search.

Unless I am missing something, that appears to be a mathematically impossible claim. They are saying A > A+B, where both A and B are positive values. I suppose it could be that non-AI users do more total searches, and the extras add up. Hmm.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#69

Post by 112233 »

sph wrote: post #41
torben-friis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I happened to be checking out kagi just yesterday (as a first time costumer) and I can say the AI focus put me off it. I was running away from the constant shoving of AI features by google, so most of their landing page advertising AI related stuff wasn't really selling it for me. Totally anecdotal evidence, of course, but I'm sure I'm not the only one dropping off the funnel for that reason.

My comment sounds negative, but for what it's worth, I still am a very happy user, and you can disable assistant/quick answer so it's never pushed on you if you don't care about it. I just don't want Kagi to get enshittified. If everybody and their dog are focusing on AI, good-old search becomes a vanishing product space which definitely still has its place in the AI era, when you want determinism from your search.

So how much Kagi without AI costs? It should me much cheaper subscription, right?

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#70

Post by willis936 »

EbNar wrote: post #22
shaky-carrousel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the rest of us that deeply distrust and despise the anti-ethical and wasteful assistants is an upgrade.

Friendly reminder that you're not forced to use it. "I despise soccer, so soccer should disappear".

I think a more fair analogy is "I despise soccer, so the specific cable package I choose should not include it".
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