All Kagi Search users can now flag low-quality AI content (“AI slop”) in web, image, and video search results. We will verify these reports using our own signals. If a domain primarily publishes AI-generated content, we will downrank it in Kagi Search and mark it as AI slop. If a page is AI-generated but the domain is mixed (not mostly AI), we will flag the page as AI-generated but will not downrank it.
For media results, images and videos confirmed as AI-generated, they will be labelled as such and automatically downranked on the results page. Users can also choose to filter out AI-generated media entirely.
I never knew about this browser before today. Trying it out on iOS. It’s just an extension, but it’s good so far!
Could improve it by calculating % on how much some site has published ai slop vs has not. This way it would promote those who avoid that shit and push offenders to the bottom or even let users just outright filter them.
I wish there was a way to buy a Kagi subscription without AI assistant bundled in. I never plan to use it and it adds no value to me. I’d rather save the money and get a cheaper subscription.
It makes sense it costs them something, but if it helps at all I’ve been paying for kagi since before the ai assistant stuff was included, it was the same price.
Is Kagi worth it? I mostly use DDG but every search engine I’ve tried is terrible now and rapidly getting worse by the day.
Try the free trial.
They give you enough searches for free that you should be able to figure out if there is value for you and the type of searches you do.
I find it a much better experience than Google which was what I was using before.
I think so. I’ve been using it for over a year, as another poster said Kagi feels like Google did 15 years ago, before it destroyed itself.
Every time I use a search on another machine, my first reaction is “oh my god what is all of this shit everywhere? ads, spam, AI slop, shopping garbage, etc”, then I quickly realize it’s not my computer and that’s just what Google looks like now.
Startpage is OK
Starpage is slightly better than DDG. I like how SP also enables masked entry into a website.
Absolutely. I’ve been using it for a month and it feels like Google, but before they enshittified. DDG was my previous goto search engine, but it’s gotten really bad as well. Especially the aggressive keyword replacements drove me almost insane.
Yes
I enjoy it. They have a 100-search free trial so you can test it out for yourself. Between them down ranking sites full of trackers and allowing you to put your own preferential ratings on sites, I find myself getting the results I’m after so much quicker.
It’s sucks not knowing anybody IRL interested in Kagi, I would love to try the 2-person account.
Wait, 2-person
Edit: oh, my dad and I both subscribe. I might even do the family plan and bring my wife into it.
I sincerely hope this works as advertised. People are quite sick of all the AI slop floating around …
It shows up for me in the UI. I imagine that it works, and if it doesn’t, it’ll be debugged.
I think that the bigger question is whether the rate of spam website creation will outpace the rate of human flagging of them.
Kagi’s process involves humans. I bet that the spam website stuff runs autonomously.
It runs autonomously to a degree, but a lot of these sites operate via posting a wide variety of content on the same domains, after those domains have previously gained status in search engines.
So for example, you’ll have a site like epiccoolcarnews[.]info hosting stuff like “How to get FREE GEMS in Clash of Clans” just because previously they posted an article about cars that Google thought was good so they ranked up the domain in their ranking algorithm.
Permanently downrank the domain, and eventually they have to start with a new domain that, as is the key part here, has no prior reputation, and thus has to work to actually get ranked up in search again.
They’re also going to be making this a public database, and have said they’ll use it to train AI-generated content detection tools that will probably be better at detecting “AI generated articles meant to appear legitimate by using common keywords and phrases”, rather than just “any text of any form that has been generated by AI” like other AI detection tools do, which would make them capable of automating the process a bit with regard to specifically search engines.
That’s not reflected in the music billboards or the traffic going to various AI providers.
Can we make an extension for Firefox and call it Sloppy-Stoppy?
Nah. Firefox IS slop
ragebait maestro
What world do you live in.
One where Firefox has already integrated AI features and is for all practical purposes owned by Google.
They hate everyrhing and also read only headlines
I don’t have a problem paying for a good service. I do have a problem having all my searches, video or article views linked to an account (with my payment data i.e. real name no less).
Then I have great news for you! Kagi accept bitcoin, does not validate email addresses (so you can register as
fhhdsbgwg@hrjesbgwgw.comif that appeals to you), and they implemented privacy pass tokens that fully anonymize your searches. They also allows searching through tor!You still need to log in and link all your searches to each other. Those are trivial to de-anonymize you from.
https://help.kagi.com/kagi/privacy/privacy-pass.html
When you enable Privacy Pass, instead of logging in with your Kagi account for each search, you use special cryptographic tokens. These tokens prove you have the right to use Kagi’s services without revealing who you are. This means your searches can’t be linked back to your account or to each other, providing an additional layer of privacy.
Obviously you lose some of the customization, but otherwise still a great service.
These tokens prove you have the right to use Kagi’s services without revealing who you are.
Ok that sounds like an actual technical solution that - to be honest - I wasn’t expecting here. Sadly, there’s way too many processes involved for me to consider this for myself. Also, I am not transferring a single penny to the divided states of southern northern america until I run out of options - but that’s just me.
They have a no-log, no-profile policy, which is why I use them.
I don’t trust companies to not log my data. Not ever.
That’s fair – it necessarily extends trust, and at the least you’d want them to be liable for false advertising.
I did go digging directly as a result of your comment, and I did find that it looks like Kagi operates at least in part, if not in whole, from Serbia. They have a San Francisco mailing address…but it’s just basically a mailbox.
For me, at least, that’s a concern; I’ve posted here on the matter to make others aware. I don’t know if it’d be enough to stop me from using them, but it certainly does make me reconsider how much weight I’d be willing to place on statements the company makes about its privacy policy, and what their practical legal liability is if they’re making inaccurate statements about their privacy practices.
Good additional information - I don’t necessarily have a problem with a company being based in Europe (better than the divided states) but our governments here are also slowly diving into totalitarianism, and Serbia has never really become a proper democracy since the last Yugoslavian wars. Currently that country is way too cozy with Putin for my taste.
After the killing of all the warrant canaries in the US, Serbian headquarters seems like a pro rather than a con.
What that means to someone is up to them. Some users on here do not like the US at all, for example, and they might be delighted to be using a Serbian company instead of a US company. That’s not my position, but I’ve no doubt that it’s a perspective for some. I have mentioned Kagi in the past favorably, and simply want people to understand, as best as I can, what using Kagi entails.
EDIT: For users who might be in the US, though, and not familiar with the political structure in Europe today, while Serbia is in Europe, it is not — presently — in the EU, and isn’t subject to the kind of data privacy laws or legal/judicial regimen that one might expect of companies in the EU.
Just use their third party crypto payment service. It doesnt transmit any of this. Perhaps look this kind of thing up prior to insinuating these things are required for Kagi.
You still link all your searches together which deanonymizes you within a couole of days.
I understand that running services costs money, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Kagi. Can anyone here convince me it’s worth the price?
Search is essential to my job, so Kagi is well worth it for me. Better rankings than Google, clean results, no ads, kind of a no-brainer for me.
Just try it. You’ll probably like it. I did.
I’ve got a bit of cash for services I want to support, and I only use it as a good search engine. None of the customisation stuff. No AI.
And I find it worth it.
You are paying for search, just differently.
https://proton.me/blog/what-is-your-data-worth
https://wallethub.com/blog/bad-google-results-for-0-apr/157511
Eh, not really. I don’t use google and I block trackers anyway.
Its a good start but you’re probably being tracked by your credit card, supermarket loyalty card, TV, operating systems and any ring camera you happen to walk past.
Also I think a lot of supermarkets are trying out facial recognition for “security” reasons. But probably they’re watching how you walk and shop etc.
Thinking you can avoid it completely is bold. Data data poisoning is (maybe) the only way to break even with the data companies.
Not sure how Kagi will help with my supermarket loyalty card but thanks anyway
Can anyone here convince me it’s worth the price?
Depends on what you want from them and your financial situation.
For me, yeah, it is. I want to pay a service fee and not deal with ads or someone logging, profiling, and trying to figure out how to monetize my searches. For me, the $10/mo for unlimited searches tier is what I want. I’m principally concerned about privacy.
I don’t really take much advantage of most of the extra stuff they do other than the Threadiverse (they call it “Fediverse Forums”) search lens and sometimes their Usenet search engine. Maybe this effort to suppress AI-generated spam websites will be nice, but have to see what happens, as I expect that the SEO crowd creating spam websites will also aim to adapt if it becomes sufficiently impactful to their bottom line.
If one of their extra features particularly fits your use case (say, the ability to fiddle with website priorities or blacklist or pin them in your search results) that might be valuable to you, but I can’t speak as to that. I’ve seen people on here say that they really like that, but I don’t use that functionality. Or the ability to easily download images in results from their image search if you’re on mobile and are hitting something like pinterest, which is obnoxious on Google Images. Search bangs. Depends on what features you use and what each is worth to you.
Yeah, all of the above, but also: blacklisting Pinterest from all my searches is almost worth the ten bucks a month on its own, lmao.
Your money, or your personal data, used for whatever damned purpose they choose.
That’s really the choice.
Running services costs money.
They have a free trial. Convince yourself
Tried and couldn’t! Was hoping someone here could highlight something I missed but seems no.
Did you go through settings and really personalize it? To me, that was gold.
Which is perfectly fine. Not everybody needs to search for things day to day. There are some professions where search is important; law and software are two which are more relevant to me. Getting accurate, non hallucinating results is really important.
I stopped using Kagi because I felt their base tier didn’t include enough searches but if they keep adding good features like this I may go back.
This is much needed.
You had me until Kagi
EDIT: if you want to pay for a search engine, more power to you. I’d rather not pay for a service that likely has its own set of issues.
You can either pay for a service, or that service will utilise every single aspect of it to monetise you.
I’ll let Kagi prove itself as a viable option for a year or two before I jump on board.
I tried Kagi, and hated its results so I cancelled. I don’t understand the love for it I see online. I enjoy self hosting searxng, where I can configure it for myself or family, for our needs. I also am a fan of marginalia, both which cost me nearly $0 a month, and work wonderfully. I’d rather invest in supporting them through time and money than a corporation like Kagi.
I just learned about searxng….gonna give it a go for a bit
It’s been around for awhile. I’ve paid for it for over a year and will continue to do so as long as they remain committed to fetching good results and allowing anonymous accounts
I haven’t used them for all the intervening time, but archive.org has the website clearly running in November 2020 as a “privacy-respecting search engine” with accounts, albeit no dog logo yet. Maybe for some time prior to that, but the archive.org crawler got a “desktop not supported yet” error for some time prior to that (which…hmm…makes me think that it might be useful for archive.org to also archive the mobile versions of websites, though in most cases the content is probably largely the same). WP has them founded in 2018.
They’re obviously a lot younger than, say, Google, but they’ve also been running for longer than a year.
Every service that goes paid eventually does ads too.
Removed by mod
Ahh, the 'ol 1-day-old account here to troll in the comments.
Not really.
Sorry if I criticize you for spending money. That makes me worse than Jared Fogle.
Not really
Prceeds to troll
Stop feeding it.
criticizing people for spending money is trolling.
You are smart.
As opposed to yourself, I guess?
Yes, I save money like an idiot.
I pay for kagi as a search engine and it’s fantastic.
I bet you do.
Well they just said they do, so that’s probably a good bet.
What do you get out of judging people for spending their own money?
Dopamine
Don’t worry about it.
Just spend more money.
Incapable of expressing your option?
I just love it when you spend money.
It makes you smart and makes me value your opinion more.
Obvious troll is obvious. If you weren’t a troll you’d give a reason.
oh no, he made me feel self-conscious about what I waste my money on!
I know, let’s claim he’s trolling and hope a mod comes in to censor him!
Consumerism is a disease.
So you have no reason and are claiming it’s consumerism. There’s no physical product. It’s not consumerism. You’re just a troll and a fucking moron too.
Okay.
You are very smart for spending the money. Please spend more and get angry at anyone who dares criticize you for it.
They are bad people and you are good.
Keep digging your hole. Until you give a reason you’re just a troll.
Oh look, that rhymed. My comment has more value than anything you’ve said so far.
Edit: oh look the troll is now private messaging and abusing even more.
Anyone who pays for this is very smart.
I encourage all of you to spend your money so you can fit in with the other people on the internet spending money.
This is cheaper than buying an ad.
