4 Privacy-Careful Search Engines That Use AI
There are several alternatives to Google and Bing search engines that respect user privacy and use AI to improve web searches.
If you don’t like being tracked while browsing, you can explore alternatives to popular search engines. Remember, though, that if you want to get the most out of them, you’ll need to choose a browser that meets the same requirements, perhaps one of the ones I’ve reviewed in this newsletter. Some of them have their own AI integration, others use other language models.
Here is a list of the most important ones:
DuckDuckGo: uses artificial intelligence from different language models to provide personalized search results without tracking users.
Brave Search: uses artificial intelligence based on some linguistic models to provide anonymous and tracking-free search results.
Swisscows: Swiss search engine that does not track users, allowing anonymity online. It uses a chatbot to analyze web content and text documents, summarizing them.
You.com: innovative search engine, launched in November 2021 by Richard Socher and Bryan McCann, former executives of Salesforce. This engine stands out for its use of artificial intelligence and for an approach focused on privacy and personalization of the search experience.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo It is a very popular search engine for its attention to privacy, in fact it does not track or store user data between one search session and another. Precisely for this reason it is considered one of the safest search engines.
It includes a quick search function called !Bang.
DuckDuckGo has an AI feature called DuckDuckGo AI Chat which aims to improve its search capabilities. This feature is designed to generate quick, natural language summaries in response to user queries, using information primarily from Wikipedia and occasionally from the Encyclopedia Britannica. It provides anonymous access to popular AI models, including the open-source GPT-4o mini, Claude 3, Llama 3.1, and Mixtral.
Brave Search
Brave Search is the default search engine for the Brave browser. It offers privacy-friendly search and does not track users.
Brave Search recently introduced the Answer with AI, which offers an AI-powered search experience similar to Google. This feature allows users to get direct answers to their questions by synthesizing information from multiple sources and presenting it in a clear and concise way.
The AI analyzes and collects data from multiple sources, presenting the information in an easily digestible format. Unlike Google, Brave Search also shows the sources used to generate the answers, increasing transparency.
It uses open source LLMs such as Meta Llama 3 and Mixtral. As of August 23, 2024, the language model has also been added CodeLLM .
Swisscows
Swisscows is a search engine developed by a Swiss company. It uses its own indexing of websites and does not save cookies or user profiles.
Swisscows uses artificial intelligence algorithms to improve the search experience. It uses semantic recognition of information, allowing it to better understand the context of user queries. This approach helps provide more relevant and intuitive answers, improving the quality of results.
It is designed to be family-friendly, with built-in filters that exclude pornographic and violent content from search results. This makes it especially useful for parents who want to ensure a safe online environment for their children.
Its chatbot, GetDigest, analyzes web content and text documents and summarizes them. This makes it easier to process information, saving you time and allowing you to work more effectively. It can recognize 33 languages.
You.com
You.com is committed to not tracking users' search habits and offers a Private Mode. Users can choose to use the engine anonymously or sign up for an account, without data being sold to third parties.
The search engine offers highly personalized search results based on a user's preferences, geographic location, and search history. This approach aims to provide more relevant content than traditional search engines like Google.
AI Features: Includes tools like YouChat, an AI chatbot that provides conversational answers to user questions, and YouCode, which is useful for programmers looking for code snippets. These tools complement traditional search with content and image generation.
Privacy-conscious alternative search engines, but without AI
If using AI is not a priority, I have provided a list of search engines worth exploring.
Qwant: it is a French search engine launched in 2011, which stands out for its commitment to privacy and neutrality. It presents itself as an ethical alternative to Google, promising not to collect or sell users' personal data. Its architecture is designed to guarantee impartial results, without the use of cookies or IP address tracking, allowing users to browse anonymously. It has a version for children called Qwant Junior.
Startpage: it stands out for its commitment to user privacy. By using Google results, Startpage ensures that searches are anonymous, not recording IP addresses and not sharing personal data with third parties. The feature Anonymous View allows you to browse the results without revealing your identity, further protecting your privacy.
Ecosia: it is a very particular search engine: it uses 80% of advertising revenue to finance reforestation projects in various areas of the world. Founded in Germany by Christian Kroll, Ecosia uses Bing and Yahoo search technology, also collaborating with the WWF to ensure the transparency and reliability of its operations.
Mojeek: it is known for its independence and respect for user privacy. Unlike many other search engines, Mojeek uses its own crawler to index web pages, creating a unique index of over 5 billion pages. This approach allows Mojeek to provide search results that are not influenced by other engines, such as Google or Bing, making the search experience more authentic and less filtered.
SearX: it is an open-source metasearch engine designed to ensure user privacy. It collects and aggregates results from multiple search engines, such as DuckDuckGo and Google, without storing personal information, making it an attractive choice for those looking for a safer alternative to traditional search engines.
Aria, the artificial intelligence of the Opera browser
You may have noticed that I almost never talk about Opera in my newsletters. Not because it is a browser without quality, but when it comes to privacy, there are strong suspicions that users' privacy is at risk. In 2016, Opera was acquired by a Chinese consortium, which raised concerns about transparency and data security. Users fear that Chinese laws could affect the company's data collection practices.
One good thing about Opera is that it has its own AI called Aria. I have tried it several times and have always found it to be good. However, I would never rely on Opera's tools if I were in a position to act anonymously.
A good compromise
And now, last but not least, I'll reveal to you what for me is a fundamental AI tool for research:
Perplexity is the state of the art in AI-powered search engines.
Advantages
Intuitive interface: Perplexity AI offers a simple design that facilitates interaction through natural language questions.
Source-based answers: one of its unique features is the ability to cite the sources of the information provided, increasing transparency and trust in the answers.
Contextual understanding: it uses advanced language models to interpret the context of the questions, improving the relevance of the answers.
Visual content generation: the platform also allows for the generation of images through AI, further enriching the user experience.
Rapid growth: with over 20 million monthly visits, Perplexity is rapidly gaining popularity in the online landscape.
And what about privacy?
As efficient as Perplexity is, it does not guarantee anonymity. However...
Users can opt out of data collection used to improve AI models in their profile settings.
Additionally, if a user decides to delete their account, all personal information is removed from the servers within 30 days.
Users also have the option to request deletion of their data by contacting customer support.
Buzz
Elon Musk’s social media platform X faces nine complaints from an Austrian nonprofit, NOYB, that it violated EU privacy rules by using public posts to train Grok AI without user consent. Read the post.
A recent study reveals that chatbots can solve image-based CAPTCHAs in certain categories with 100% accuracy. It seems that CAPTCHAs are no longer an effective means of combating Spam. Read the post.
Speaking of ChatGPT, the company is planning to double its subscription prices in the next 5 years (or more). Read the post.
That's all for today, thank you for reading and see you next time!
Piero