DuckDuckGo launches Wikipedia and AI-powered DuckAssist

If you want to browse the net without having to worry about being tracked online, DuckDuckGo is one solution. Think of it like Google; it acts similarly to a search engine but blocks trackers and offers site encryption. They also claim that your personal information is not collected or shared. There’s an extension available on Google Chrome or you can also download the app separately for mobile devices if you want to try.

Recently, the developers of DuckDuckGo are improving their system even further by launching DuckAssist. Like DuckDuckGo itself, DuckAssist is free to use and is available to try today in DuckDuckGo browsers and extensions. No login is required too and is fully integrated with DuckDuckGo.

What’s interesting about DuckAssist is that it can answer questions immediately typed on the search box via Wikipedia.

So how does it work? It mainly uses AI tech to do so. According to the DuckDuckGo, “If you enter a question that can be answered by Wikipedia into our search box, DuckAssist may appear and use AI natural language technology to anonymously generate a brief, sourced summary of what it finds in Wikipedia — right above our regular private search results.”

The company does add as a disclaimer that DuckAssist won’t generate accurate answers all of the time. That’s because there’s a limit to the amount of information the feature can summarize. Also, while Wikipedia is generally accurate, it still isn’t perfect. But for the most part it will give you an answer to your question.

For now, DuckAssist is still in beta mode and is only available in English in DuckDuckGo’s browsing apps (iOS, Android, and Mac) and browser extensions (Firefox, Chrome, and Safari). If the trial does well, they will roll it out to all DuckDuckGo users.

So what do you think of DuckDuckGo’s new DuckAssist feature? Did it convince you to try it out? Share your thoughts below.