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Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

blog.kagi.com

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Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#71

Post by onli »

cma wrote: post #58
onli wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new one has an extension that reflows on zoom. https://github.com/emvaized/text-reflow-on-zoom-mobile , it is quite useful.

Nice, I wouldn't want it to be automatic after pinch but that looks promising and I'm sure could be modded, maybe pinch zoom and then if you keep holding the two fingers without moving much for X amount of time it reflows

Yeah, it is sometime annoying when text reflows if you only want to look closer at an image. But most of the time it's not really an issue, you just need to reposition. Maybe give it a try anyway :)

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#72

Post by nirvdrum »

C4stor wrote: post #9

The "fair use" part takes a lot of place in this article. It talks a lot about what happens if you use more tokens than what you're allowed, but curiously doesn't pip a word about what happens if you use less - for example maybe with a partial rebate on your next billing cycle ? I think "fair" should mean "fair for all parties involved", currently it's rather a "we don't want to incur any risk" policy, since I don't…

Huh? The title of the blog post is "Kagi Assistant is now available to all users!". Their users are people paying for what up until now was just their search service. They're now rolling in Assistant as a value-add. Your subscription price didn't increase. You're strictly getting more for what you were already paying. If you don't use it all, you're no worse off than you were yesterday.

If you want metered billing, there's no shortage of AI services that offer that option. Kagi even offers one by way of the FastGPT. You can also pay to use their search API if you don't think the subscription is worthwhile. You can cobble something together with Open WebUI pretty easily.

I have Kagi Family plan for my household. I've been paying for the Ultimate upgrade for my account in order to access Assistant, but given how infrequently others in my family would use it, it never made sense to upgrade them. Still, it would have been convenient if they could occasionally access Assistant. And now they can. And my bill didn't increase. And they're being incredibly transparent about what the limits are and why they're there. I'm a really happy customer today.

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#73

Post by weird-eye-issue »

colonial wrote: post #41
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've paid for a monthly subscription with Discord for years They also have ads in the app and they have other monetization features...

Revenue != profit. Discord, like almost every 2010s SaaS startup, has revenue (from your Nitro) - but not nearly enough to cover expenses.

They are profitable

And besides my point was that it's pretty clear what their monetization is and that it's not some mystery

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#74

Post by troupo »

inglor wrote: post #57
troupo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Revenue != profit And for over a decade most companies talk only about revenue, which is infuriating. Because most startups and tech darlings survive only by continuous infusion of unlimited investor money.

I worked for 4 startups that were operating for years at a loss with revenue, all are profitable today and all were acquired. My current startup is also not profitable, we're burning money but we're already signing big contracts and I hope in a year or two we keep growing rather than become profitable (1B+ valuation in a year). Becoming profitable, even at this point is just a matter of deciding to stop expanding - b…

> all are profitable today and all were acquired.

They are either profitable or acquired :)

> Becoming profitable, even at this point is just a matter of deciding to stop expanding

Yeah, growth at all costs is one of the defining factors.

> it's a startup accelerator after al

The only business models for Y Combinator startups are:

- run indefinitely long on unlimited investor money

- get sold to the highest bidder at some nebulous market valuation

Becoming profitable never enters the picture :)

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#75

Post by dawnerd »

maronato wrote: post #31
C4stor wrote: post #9

The "fair use" part takes a lot of place in this article. It talks a lot about what happens if you use more tokens than what you're allowed, but curiously doesn't pip a word about what happens if you use less - for example maybe with a partial rebate on your next billing cycle ? I think "fair" should mean "fair for all parties involved", currently it's rather a "we don't want to incur any risk" policy, since I don't…

It’s the exact opposite. They are incurring a huge amount of risk with this. 6 hours ago most users didn’t have access to this feature at all. Now we have $4-8 of raw token credits a month to use on a well-built feature. I’m paying $9 a month with the annual subscription, and it was worth it just for Search. Now they’re giving me $17 worth of value for the same price. Their margins must be razor thin, and they’re onl…

Probably a lot of subscribers that will never use it, like myself.

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#76

Post by nirvdrum »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #70
jen729w wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an existing happy subscriber to Kagi, this statement is illogical. I currently pay for x. Soon I’ll get x + y for the same money. That’s better.

"As an existing happy subscriber" -- goodness! Even after years of seeing what happens after such illogical evangelism, hn never ceases to surprise you and brings the fandom out in full force. It's like with Apple. You say once "your phone switches on and off on its own - maybe something is amiss with the hw/sw" and there are dozens of replies already blaming you "you must be holding it wrong!". It's a whole new leve…

I don't follow what either you or the OP are upset about. Where is the apologism and why do you think it's needed?

Kagi rolled out a free feature to its existing customers without increasing the price of their plans. The limits of that plan seem quite generous, as well. The only way I can make sense of the OP's post is that the OP wants the Kagi subscription price to decrease. Perhaps that's fair, but it doesn't make any sense here because you're strictly getting more for your money. If you're paying $10/month for a subscription, yesterday you couldn't use Assistant and today you can for the same $10/month. Placing a cap on how much you can use seems quite reasonable given the service costs money to operate. If you choose not use it, you're no worse than you were yesterday... you can happily go about using the search service you were already paying for.

Is the problem that the free usage isn't unlimited? Is it that not using the free service doesn't reduce the search price? Or is it that those using Assistant more than you appear to be getting more value for their money? I'm not trying to be dense, but I really don't see what's even remotely controversial about this announcement.

Lately, every subscription I have is increasing the fee without giving me anything. Kagi is giving me something extra without charging me any more money. I'm sure the nefarious intention is to make their service more attractive to non-subscribers and grow their userbase, but interests can align.

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#77

Post by baobabKoodaa »

jen729w wrote: post #10
C4stor wrote: post #9

The "fair use" part takes a lot of place in this article. It talks a lot about what happens if you use more tokens than what you're allowed, but curiously doesn't pip a word about what happens if you use less - for example maybe with a partial rebate on your next billing cycle ? I think "fair" should mean "fair for all parties involved", currently it's rather a "we don't want to incur any risk" policy, since I don't…

As an existing happy subscriber to Kagi, this statement is illogical. I currently pay for x. Soon I’ll get x + y for the same money. That’s better.

I am also an existing happy subscriber to Kagi. I currently pay for unlimited X. Now I pay for limited X, where I can't even see if I'm approaching limits or not. Anyway, my main point is that I'm getting LESS for the same money.

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#78

Post by TekMol »

dharmab wrote: post #59
TekMol wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That looks super complicated. And hard to tell if the cryptography works as intended. Why would I go through all that hassle if I can just type my query directly in other search engines?

I mean, it's pretty easy to use. It's a toggle switch in the UI.

If it is a switch in the UI, then that is just trusting the site.

If you trust companies with what they say they do, then why not enter your query in any search engine that does not require a login? Afaik none of them say that they will try to apply fuzzy fingerprinting to cluster your searches into a profile.

Re: Kagi Assistant is now available to all users

#79

Post by baobabKoodaa »

I don't like how this was rolled out. I'm currently paying for "Unlimited Kagi Assistant" and the Kagi website STILL advertises "Unlimited Kagi Assistant". And they stealthily rolled in limits? I pay the same amount, but it's no longer unlimited, and I only know about this because I happened to notice it on HN. Otherwise I would only know after hitting a limit.
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