You can login to (using my preferences as an example) DDG and configure it to not use AI, but I mostly browse in private/incognito mode and don't care to login to DDG every time I open a browser. However, I - and you - don't have to login to enforce that preference; at least with DDG you can set a default search engine that automatically avoids it. Here are the parameters in mobile Firefox:

NoAI DDG parameters

Even in Chrome and Chrome derivatives, you can set a default search engine; I don't know the exact steps, but the end result should look similar to the above.

If you prefer to stick with Google, even they offer a no AI solution. I haven't used Google in years, but according to arstechnica, this would be the equivalent configuration:

Arsyechnica no AI parameters for Google

I've not used any other search engines since Altavista, so I can't provide details for each one, but hopefully this is a good starting point.

edit: It seems this changed ... Or maybe I had it wrong from the beginning, but I tested this when I posted it, so I think it changed. Regardless, the q= is not necessary currently.

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[–] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Things like this is exactly how I got hacked for the first time in my life even though I'd say I'm pretty careful as someone who eventually ended up working in Cybersecurity.

When anti-adblocks started being a thing, there was a pretty well recommended alternative, I think something like NanoDefender? Don't remember the name. Several hundred thousand installs, recommended as a good alternative that's not blocked as often as AdBlock was. Made it my default adblock.

Two years later, the guy sold the extension to a "company" that immediately pushed a infostealer update.

So, installing random extension if I can avoid it, unless it's really well known, like Bitwarden or UBlock, is never worth it. Especially if you can easily solve it some other way.

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