- This Google Alternative Has a 'No AI' Function. Search Visits Are Soaring by Double Digits [fastcompany.com]
Hello, new friends! Google announced some big changes to Search last week, including a new "intelligent AI-powered Search box" that will take priority over the traditional blue links. "But, for reasons from privacy to hallucinations, some users have had enough and are opting for another search engine." And we saw a surge in app installs and visits to our No AI search page. Why? Around here, AI is always optional and links aren't going anywhere. (Plus, we don't spy on you.)
"Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out," said DuckDuckGo's founder, Gabriel Weinberg. "As a result, their results are getting worse, not better. We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want."
In the news...
- Competition Regulator 'Must Use Its New Powers to Rein in Big Tech' [thetimes.com]
A coalition of businesses and consumer groups is warning the UK government that failing to rein in Big Tech will leave consumers exposed to "weaker privacy protections and fewer opportunities to switch" providers. The group says if "market failures are not corrected now, they will be inherited by the AI era, extending the dominance of a small number of companies into the next generation of digital services." James Hurley reports.
- Data Brokers’ and AI Firms’ Opt-Out Forms Are Built to Fail, Report Finds [wired.com]
A new study from digital rights nonprofit EPIC found that major data collecting companies, including AI vendors and data brokers, use deliberately confusing designs to prevent people from opting out of the sale of their personal data. Researchers audited 38 companies and found buried links, fake opt-out toggles, and forms that don't actually do what they claim.
"Manipulative design has no place in opt-out requests," EPIC says, calling on regulators at the state and federal level to step in and defend consumer rights.
- Maryland Is First to Ban A.I.-Driven Price Increases in Grocery Stores [nytimes.com]
Maryland became the first state in the US to ban grocery stores and delivery apps from using customers' personal data to charge them higher prices, in a practice known as "surveillance pricing." The new law, which takes effect October 1st, comes as 33 states have introduced similar legislation targeting AI-driven pricing tools that can charge shoppers different amounts for the same item based on data like their neighborhood or shopping habits.
Critics say the law doesn't go far enough, noting that it exempts loyalty programs, which are one of the most powerful data-harvesting tools retailers can use.
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