Google is pushing AI aggressively into Search. The result? AI Overviews at the top of queries, AI-generated summaries, and machine-written answers appearing before you even reach actual websites. While some users find it convenient, for others the experience feels cluttered and harder to navigate. If you are also among those who simply want traditional search results, you can try DuckDuckGo browser.
The browser is currently gaining popularity among users who want to experience the old internet search feel, without AI summaries dominating the page.
You see, in 2024, Google Search expanded its AI Overviews feature globally. As part of this shift, instead of only showing links, Google now frequently generates an AI summary at the top of search results. The feature is designed to answer queries instantly, but it is also facing criticism over inaccurate results and the lack of a clear, permanent option to disable AI Overviews.
While Google does provide a “Web” filter that shows only links, it is not set as the default and must be manually selected each time. With DuckDuckGo, however, the browser still offers search results in a more conventional format. The platform also does not personalise results based on user tracking.
Duckduckgo browser is available on desktop and mobile platforms, includes built-in tracker blocking and private search by default. So, if you are looking for a more private browsing option and are frustrated with AI-heavy search layouts, here’s how you can try it.
How to use DuckDuckGo and avoid AI summaries
To get started:
– Go to duckduckgo.com in your existing browser.
– Change your default search engine settings in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to DuckDuckGo.
– Alternatively, you can download the DuckDuckGo browser app on Android, iOS, Windows, or macOS and set it as default.
– Once set, your searches will go through DuckDuckGo’s results page, which does not automatically generate AI Overviews like Google.
Meanwhile, if you prefer staying with Google but want to skip AI summaries, you can try this:
– Select the “Web” filter after performing a search to show links only.
– Or, you can add “–ai” at the end of your query (though this is inconsistent and may not always work). Instead of You will still see the Knowledge Graph in some cases.
