“Alexa, Wikipedia [topic]”: If you’re the type of person who loves to settle arguments on the spot, try this. Ask Alexa to “Wikipedia” it, and she’ll read a preview of the full article aloud.
DuckDuckGo just launched search assisted by AI - Here's how to use it
DuckDuckGo has an all-new, AI-driven search feature. It can be used for fast results without the hassle of clicking on every page on your SERP. Get the answers you need instantly while enjoying the private service the search engine is famous for.
Check out this fantastic new development in secure browsing below.
What does DuckDuckGo’s DuckAssist do?
Spread Privacy, the official DuckDuckGo blog, recently announced the release of DuckAssist. Its mission? To optimize your search and give you precisely what you need with a single query.
This feature uses natural language technology to crawl a relevant Wikipedia or Britannica entry for the exact answer. Limiting the pool of referential candidates means the feature is much less likely to stray from the real answers you need.
According to 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.”
This development is only the beginning of a new wave of AI tools and features that’ll make every search faster and more helpful than ever before. The tech behind DuckAssist comes from OpenAI and Anthropic, so you already know it will be awesome.
Science, popular culture, history and even practical household advice are all delivered to your browser in one of the most convenient and effective packages possible.
The best part? The brand promises that all queries answered by DuckAssist won’t be logged or tracked. Enjoy the high-standard DuckDuckGo sets for all private search engines without wasting time scouring the internet for what you need.
DuckAssist pro tips
If you want to give DuckAssist a try, here are things to keep in mind:
- Phrasing your search query as a question makes DuckAssist more likely to appear in search results.
- If you’re confident that Wikipedia has the answer to your question, adding the word “wiki” to your search also makes DuckAssist more likely to appear in the results.
- DuckAssist beta is only available in English in browsing apps (iOS, Android, and Mac) and browser extensions (Firefox, Chrome, and Safari). If the trial goes well, it will roll out to all DuckDuckGo users soon.
- If you don’t want DuckAssist to appear in search results, you can disable “Instant Answers” in search settings. (Note: this will disable all Instant Answers, not just DuckAssist.)
- If DuckAssist has generated an answer for a given topic before, the answer will appear automatically. Otherwise, you can click the ‘Ask’ button to have an answer rendered in real time.
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This guy will get you to sleep, seriously
Can’t seem to get to bed? Benjamin Boster reads dry Wikipedia articles to help people catch some Z’s on his ‘I Can’t Sleep’ podcast. Bad sleepers say he’s changed their lives. Plus, woman duped by Keanu Reeves deepfake, U.S. military used fake Cisco routers, and new Apple iPads.
See ya, CNET: Wikipedia just downgraded its trust badge for tech site CNET from “generally reliable” to “generally unreliable.” Since 2022, CNET’s use of AI has been, well, a mess — everything from outright errors to blatant plagiarism. PSA: Komando is the only name I know for tech news and advice you can trust. I pick the news here myself and write this very email every day.
This week 19 years ago, a site that’s still going strong launched. Was it … A.) Reddit, B.) Wikipedia, C.) Tumblr or D.) LinkedIn?
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Free course to help you tell fact from fiction online
By now, you know the internet is full of junk. Misinformation, social media posts peddling junk and scams galore. It can feel like we’re surrounded by it all day long.
So how do you tell what’s real from what’s not? That’s where this free course comes in. If you’ve ever found yourself scratching your head over a link you clicked or fighting with a friend or relative about a piece of outlandish news, Arizona State University’s journalism school wants to help.
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