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DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

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Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#391

Post by thaumasiotes »

monkpit wrote: post #388
godelski wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but Search is still the consumer facing product that brings people to Google and keeps them there. And let's not forget, these are the same people that when searching for "eBay" will put an ad at the top of the results, linking to eBay, and then place eBay as the top search result. I've found it hilarious that every single search engine does the same thing. You can do it even in Apple's App Store too. (Not seeing t…

This is not done by the search engine - eBay purposely bids to be the top ad for the search term “eBay”. It’s called cannibalization. They’re more willing to pay for the impression and potential click through than they are willing to give up the ad space to a competitor.

See my comment sidethread. It's nice when the facts you assert to support your position are, you know, true.

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#394

Post by Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe »

p0w3n3d wrote: post #380

To be honest I use Google AI mode a lot. And Duckduckgo for private search. I default to DDG and use !g if I want to resign from privacy or find some merchandise to buy

You mean looking for merchandise is something you're fine being tracked and funneled into the product with the best SEO game?

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#395

Post by bradley13 »

dylan604 wrote: post #32
al_borland wrote: post #5

My friends who previously had no interest in technology and never talked about it, are suddenly following tech news closely all because they hate AI being pushed so hard. One was just messaging me this morning about alternatives to Google search and maps. He ended up downloading DuckDuckGo. If Google isn’t carefully they’re going to push people away from their golden goose.

Search is not the golden goose. Ads are. If search was the golden goose, they wouldn't be trying so hard to replace it with AI. Just because Google used to do search as their main point of business does not mean that holds true today. Holding on to the false premise will only add to your confusion about their decisions.

This. Google wants to sell advertising. If they can embed advertising into AI and make more money, they will.

You ask AI for a product recommendation. It says "Buy X from Acme". Is that paid product placement? Who knows?

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#396

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

neltnerb wrote: post #370
thewebguyd wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps they are, but I think what I think is odd is how many are simultaneously opposed to the effects of AI (data centers, environmental impact, job loss) yet also are daily, paying users of it even outside of work. I know several who are like that. I wonder how many in that poll have a negative sentiment about AI, yet are also heavy users. There seems to be some kind of disconnect going on?

> I wonder how many in that poll have a negative sentiment about AI, yet are also heavy users. There seems to be some kind of disconnect going on? Being a heavy user seems like it'd create a lot of resentment if you don't actually enjoy doing it. If you have used a tool for years and years and suddenly it shoves in a bunch of AI, like Duolingo or Google, are you a heavy user who may well dislike the results? I have t…

ChatGPT has been downloaded >1 billion times on the Android PlayStore. AI is incredibly popular.

People have all sorts of concerns about how AI will change society, but that's precisely because it's so useful for so many things. If it were useless or just a fad, there would be no reason to worry.

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#397

Post by Thanemate »

nonethewiser wrote: post #138
thewebguyd wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because they have fear of missing out on AI That's been my experience too, both with friends and coworkers. It would seem that the negative sentiment around AI is largely an internet phenomenon. I've yet to run into a hardcore "AI skeptic" irl. People seem either neutral, or enthusiastic about it.

Seems the main claims against it center around: 1. Labor replacement 2. AI is actually bad in-and-of-itself. Doesn't work, not useulf etc. 3. Energy concerns

Odd not to see my main concern, which is gathering large amounts of human knowledge in a machine that is ultimately tweaked by the "selected" few not just for profiting off of it, but to also (ultimately) have a big influence on what is appropriate and what isn't.

I have no issues with the technology itself.

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#398

Post by aryehof »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #16

Yeah, starting from a much lower baseline than DDG, I've had something like a 10x increase in queries last ~week. Seems like a lot of people are looking for alternatives. For as much as how the startup space loves to pay lip service to contrarian bets, people sure do all be running in the same direction.

Just looked at it for the first time. My first impression - grey, gray and more grey. Please help brighten our day by adding some color to the page?

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#399

Post by jfim »

wiether wrote: post #252
osigurdson wrote: post #28

I actually like AI mode in Google. My main reason is if I just have a quick question it seems a lot quicker than logging into ChatGPT/Claude as I can just type it in the address bar. Of course DDG / others can do the exact same thing as they already have an AI mode. Maybe you can even set up ChatGPT as a search engine - not sure. The key for this use case is speed - it has to be nearly instant.

People already talked about the Kagi Quick Answer feature with the question mark. But if you still want ChatGPT/Claude, then you simply create a custom bang and associate it with something like ` https://chatgpt.com/?q=%s ` So now in your address bar you type "how to center a div !gpt" and it will start a session with your query

Claude is https://claude.ai/new?q=%s

Re: DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode

#400

Post by gorgmah »

wsc981 wrote: post #364
al_borland wrote: post #5

My friends who previously had no interest in technology and never talked about it, are suddenly following tech news closely all because they hate AI being pushed so hard. One was just messaging me this morning about alternatives to Google search and maps. He ended up downloading DuckDuckGo. If Google isn’t carefully they’re going to push people away from their golden goose.

> The AI product rollouts in the last two years have been some of the most aggressive and user hostile product rollouts in my entire life. I’m getting extremely annoyed by the Base44 ads I see on YouTube every other video. First I pressed skip all the time, but the ads keep popping up. So now, every time I see it, I click on the ad and then immediately close the site. At least I can make their aggressive ad strategy…

Youtube revanced on your phone + ublock on firefox and you'll never see youtube ads again. There's also a replacement app for android TV that I forgot the name of that works well. Do not use chrome, google nerfed its ad-blocking capabilities a while ago
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