Yes, we know what you’re thinking… do we really need another AI chatbot?! Well, in this case, yes. This one has been around for a little while now but has really piqued my interest in recent months, and for one good reason.
DuckDuckGo, the privacy-concerned search engine, launched its own chatbot back in March of this year called Duck.ai. It works in a similar way to the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini. Give it a prompt or query and you’ll get an AI-generated response back.
Where it stands out against the competition is in its focus on privacy and anonymity. Most chatbots require you to sign up to unlock most features and then use your data as part of training from then on. DuckDuckGo’s AI chat focuses on offering functionality while asking for as little data as possible.
Duck.ai: Real Anonymity
DuckDuckGo has made a name for itself with a search engine that doesn’t track your searches or store any of your personal data. Unlike a service like Google, you are completely untracked while using it.
The company’s new Duck.ai chatbot follows the same principle. Your chats aren’t saved on any servers, used for training, and you can specify how much information is used in your prompts. While your chats can be stored locally on your device, you can decide to go as for as having every single conversation wiped once you’re done.
Duck.ai immediately deletes any record of you, including the IP address used. This means, to the chatbot, it looks like every single query has come from the chatbot itself, or in other words, there is absolutely no trace of you.
DuckDuckGo’s chatbot doesn’t require you to login or create an account. However, if you do decide to sign up, you can get access to extra features as part of a DuckDuckGo subscription.
This includes access to more advanced models via Duck.ai, including GPT-5, Claude Sonnet 4 and Llama 4 Maverick. If you don’t sign up, you an use GPT-4o mini, Llama 4 Scout and Claude Haiku 3.5 with no login.
If you do decide to subscribe, it costs $9.99 a month. Where Duck.ai differs from the likes of a ChatGPT subscription is that you don’t need to share any personal information whatsoever. Even when making an account, you can be given a random ID number instead of having to supply an email for logging in.
How does it compare to ChatGPT and Gemini?
So how does this compare to the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini? Are these better-known companies really that bad for your privacy?
I asked Duck.ai how Gemini and ChatGPT compared in these areas. It provided a list of the key differences, including the sharing of data with third parties. This is somewhere where Duck.AI especially stands out compared to the competition where most share your data outwards.
Like most other AI chatbots, Gemini and ChatGPT both use your data to enhance training and keep your conversations on file in some way.
While this all sounds a bit daunting, it is actually the normal practice for these kind of technologies. In fact, Duck.aI seems to take an overly protective stance, going out of its way to avoid using your data.
Wait, is Duck.ai a good chatbot?
DuckDuckGo might be prioritizing your privacy, but what is the chatbot actually like? Unsurprisingly, compared to the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, the tool is a lot more limited.
There are no image or video generators; you can’t code using the chatbot; and deep research isn’t a feature.
However, you can attach files and images, ask the chatbot to search the internet and, like ChatGPT or Claude, you can alter how the chatbot interacts with you, changing its tone, personality or giving it a role to better personalize the output.
Overall thoughts
Realistically, this is not the chatbot for an avid user. If you find yourself using ChatGPT to perform deep research projects, Gemini to make videos, or Claude to write code, this will feel incredibly limited in comparison.
However, for those who are concerned about how much information they are giving over to AI chatbots, this could be a great alternative. Duck.aI goes out of its way more than any chatbot I’ve tried to keep your data private.
While the likes of Le Chat or Claude are more careful with data consumption, Duck.aI removes any possible chance of your data being used anywhere.
More from Tom's Guide
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