Context: I’m googling advice on referencing, and the AI overview takes it upon itself to suggest templates of how to reference (helpful, I guess) - but then it uses my exact university and it just makes your skin crawl because it really drives home how much you’re being watched. By machines.
Damn. That’s creepy. Have you considered using alternative search engines? Startpage? Kagi? DDG?
How does Startpage compare to DDG?
Looks nicer, has a significantly easier to recommend name. “You want me to do what with a duck?” Startpage’s name is more intuitive.
Is there any difference in the quality of the search results?
I felt like they were very similar in my very anecdotal, and only a few months each experience with them.
These days I am using Ecosia, as it has similar still search, like the others it also claims not to sell my search and personal info, and supposedly they plant more trees / do more environmental stuff if more people use Ecosia, so I figured why not. Seems fine so far.
Oh, I just went “full 5 bucks a month” into Kagi - it is great, I haven’t used a useful (non-ai-first) websearch for a while
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The HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA weren’t subtle about it.
It’s not AI, it’s just regular tracking surfacing to your face. Your IP address alone allows pinpointing you down to few km radius. But there are way more advanced techniques with profiling ect.
TLDR: Use VPN and privacy oriented browser + privacy oriented email.
