So it remains to be seen how DDG will evolve the feature - and whether it might, for example, seek to ink partnerships with reference sites.Īt launch, DuckAssist is only available via DDG’s apps and browser extensions - but the company says it plans to roll it out to all search users in the coming weeks.

But he notes the company is “experimenting with how incorporating other sources could work, and when to use them” - which suggests it may seek to adapt sourcing to the context of the query (so, for example, a topical news-related search query might be better responded to by DuckAssist sourcing information from trusted news media). Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has followed Microsoft and Google to become the latest veteran search player to dip its beak in the generative AI trend - announcing the launch today in beta of an AI-powered summarization feature, called DuckAssist, which can directly answer straightforward search queries for users.ĭDG says it’s drawing on natural language technology from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic, an AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI employees, to power the natural language summarization capability, combined with its own active indexing of Wikipedia and other reference sites it’s using to source answers (the encyclopedia Britannia is another source it mentions).įounder Gabe Weinberg tells TechCrunch the sources it’s using for DuckAssist are - currently - “99%+ Wikipedia”.

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