Mar 09, 2023 11:30:00

DuckDuckGo announces search query response function 'DuckAssist' utilizing AI, mechanism to pull answers from Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc.

DuckDuckGo, a search engine, has announced the beta version of 'DuckAssist', a function that AI answers user's search queries. DuckAssist applies natural language processing technology such as OpenAI to generate answers to users' search queries at the top of search results pages based on information from Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica.

DuckDuckGo Launches DuckAssist

https://spreadprivacy.com/duckassist-launch/

DuckAssist is provided on a trial basis at the time of article creation, and can only be used with the DuckDuckGo browsing app distributed on iOS, Android, and macOS, or the English version of the extension distributed on Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Once the trial is complete, it will be available to all users.

According to DuckDuckGo, DuckAssist is a new type of instant answer displayed in search results like news, maps, weather, etc. Also, it seems that DuckAssist is designed not to change the appearance of the conventional search result screen. DuckAssist is fully integrated with the conventional DuckDuckGo, so search queries and browsing history are not recorded.

Also, although DuckAssist is not always displayed for all search queries, it is more likely to be displayed if the search query is expressed as a question sentence. If you do not want to display it, you can hide it from the search settings.

DuckAssist uses 'OpenAI and Anthropic natural language processing technology' to display answers based on the contents of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica in search results. Regarding the reason why Wikipedia was chosen as the data source for DuckAssist, DuckDuckGo said, ``I know that Wikipedia is not a perfect source of information, but it is operated by an organization that is relatively reliable and transparent across a wide range of topics. and its source can be easily traced from the citations listed in the article.'

A study published in 2014 found that the English and German versions of Wikipedia were at least 99.5% accurate, with an article completion rate of around 84%. I chose Wikipedia as

Wikipedia is always updated by users, but DuckAssist's answers always reflect Wikipedia updates, allowing DuckDuckGo to show the latest information on specific topics. Also, since DuckAssist is designed to 'summarize only information from Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica', there is a possibility that DuckDuckGo may cause 'hallucinations' in which contradictory answers or false answers are returned to the input content. seems to have decreased significantly.

DuckDuckGo said, ``DuckAssist does not always produce accurate answers. That's why it's so important for our users to share their feedback in this beta, and there's an anonymous feedback link next to DuckAssist's answers, so let us know if you run into any issues.'