source: techcrunch ai: six search engines worth trying now that google isn’t really google anymore
level: business
google announced a major search overhaul at its 2026 i/o keynote, making ai mode the default and embedding chat boxes into results. the change sparked user backlash, with many seeing it as forced ai integration. comments on google's video called it an ad for other search engines. the new design, described as ai search through and through, may alienate users already frustrated by past ai overview errors and google's search monopoly.
kagi is a paid, ad-free search engine starting at five dollars per month. it lets users customize results with filters and lenses, like an academic lens for journal articles. an ai quick answer feature is available but optional. duckduckgo is a free alternative that doesn't track user data and shows ads based on search topics. it offers an ai-generated answer that can be turned off in settings. startpage acts as a proxy, stripping personal data before sending queries to google, so you get google results anonymously and can disable ai features.
the search engine &udm=14 automatically appends a string to google searches to remove ai overviews, with code on github for self-hosting. brave browser and search engine, built on chromium, supports chrome extensions and offers goggles to curate results, like filtering out pinterest. ai features are toggleable. ecosia, also chromium-based, donates most ad revenue to tree-planting and publishes financial reports. it provides an eco-friendly option with optional ai summaries.
why it matters: data scientists and ai practitioners can evaluate these search tools to avoid ai-generated noise, control data collection, or test how different engines handle queries for research and development.
source: techcrunch ai: six search engines worth trying now that google isn’t really google anymore