DuckDuckGo has become the latest search engine to enter the AI race, with the launch of DuckAssist, a new AI-assisted feature that generates natural language answers using Wikipedia.
DuckAssist is currently available in English on DuckDuckGo’s browsing apps and browser extensions, and it uses generative AI technology to provide more direct answers than traditional search results or other instant answers. It is a new type of instant answer in search results that is intended to look and feel like traditional SERPs.
“We designed DuckAssist to be fully integrated into DuckDuckGo Private Search, mirroring the look and feel of our traditional search results, so while the AI-generated content is new, we hope using DuckAssist feels second nature,” says DuckDuckGo.
DuckAssist currently responds to questions by scanning a limited set of sources, namely Wikipedia and, on occasion, related sites such as Britannica. It anticipates that its answers will respond more directly to actual questions than traditional search results or other Instant Answers. This is because it summarizes what it finds on Wikipedia using natural language technology from OpenAI and Anthropic.
The sources for this piece include an article in CNET.
