“and strap yr (posting) hands across my (search) engines”: where to go after google is AI-fucked

itt ilx advises on alternatives to a once-OK-ish titan of internet “research” (panicked last-minute fact-checking)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines

Write a prompt of no less than 500 words for Claude and then fact check Claude’s results.

brb heading to the library to fact-check claude’s results bcz google is ai-fucked

Anyone with a microfiche reader owns the truth right now.

we're back here & i'm glad:

https://www.visittrinity.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Treasury2.jpeg

you wd think there's a real gap in the market for a low-fuckery search engine right now but well, here we are

I think there’s a paid one ppl rate?

I think if I went back in time 15 or so years and told my younger self that google no longer works that past me would boggle slightly, but less than if I went back like 5 years and had to explain “no really, theyve managed to fuck it EVEN MORE”

Of course as long as what you publish is capable any lies you put in there will become ‘THE TRUTH’

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y

At least that’s what I learned in my Bixonimania support group.

The paid one is Kagi, I've been using it for a bit and it really does feel like night and day. They give you like 100 free searches to try it out first, which is what I did.

Isn't Kagi itself an AI company? The search for unshittified search can feel as futile as that for ethical capitalism...

I wouldn't call them an A.I. company, no. They make something called Kagi Assistant which I have never used, and the search engine itself has (optional) A.I.-generated summary of results which I switched off the first chance I got.

https://kagi.com

Our AI Philosophy
Why is our tagline "humanize the web" while we also have AI products? Because technology should enhance humanity, not replace it. We integrate AI thoughtfully: opt-in, on-demand, and always under your control.

I know that sounds like corporatese but it's accurate. They have AI features that are clearly labeled and easy to avoid, and they never push them on you if you don't want to use them.

are their search results full of AI slop websites? that's been my experience with DuckDuckGo

Not that I've seen, no. They let you customize your results by blocking, pinning, raising, or lowering domains in the rankings.

Obviously having a personalized search index raises privacy concerns for some people, but they do have a Privacy Pass feature you can use to authenticate locally, at the cost of losing some of the personalization.

There are also different "lenses" you can toggle (e.g. Forums, Academic, News) or design your own if you want. I use preconfigured the lenses more than anything else, and find the results are pretty good without needing to invest time into optimizing for my personal preferences.