An AI search engine is a type of search tool that uses advanced technology, including machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), to enhance the search experience. While ChatGPT brought this technology into the mainstream, several similar AI-powered search engines have since entered the market. Let’s take a closer look at what these AI search engines are and how they operate.
What is an AI search engine?
An AI search engine is a search platform that utilizes machine learning models and artificial intelligence to deliver search results. By employing AI-based algorithms and natural language processing, these engines can comprehend more complex search queries, offering users improved, more pertinent, and accurate results.
Additionally, an AI search engine automatically generates more precise search outcomes and provides detailed, unique answers to intricate questions. Instead of solely relying on keywords, these tools analyze your queries, consider your preferences, past interactions, interests, and behavior to deliver a personalized response that aligns with your needs.
How does an AI search engine work?
AI search engines function similarly to traditional ones but incorporate additional AI technologies, algorithms, and deep learning to better understand queries and provide enhanced results. Here’s a breakdown of how a typical AI search engine operates:
- Indexing Content: The AI search engine begins by indexing content from the web.
- Understanding Queries: When a user inputs a question, the tool utilizes natural language processing to comprehend the meaning and intent of the query.
- Determining Relevance: The engine assesses the relevance of its indexed items to the query and assigns a relevancy score to each item.
- Providing Results: Based on the relevancy scores, the AI-based search engine presents the most relevant results at the top, followed by less relevant ones.
Furthermore, machine learning models empower AI search engines to enhance their performance over time. They learn from historical data, enabling the engines to offer more pertinent content and increasingly accurate results with each interaction.
Quick Review
| AI Search Engine | Key Features | User Base | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Komo | – Ask, Explore, Search features – Free and ad-free – Personalized search results | Freelancers, teams, enterprise users | Free with standard features; Paid plans available |
| Microsoft Bing | – AI-powered chat feature – Accurate speech recognition – Fully AI-integrated search | General users | Free (Sign-in required for more than four query results per day) |
| You.com | – Greater user control – Instant answers – YouPro subscription for advanced features | General users | Free to use with subscription option (YouPro) |
| Google Bard | – Experimental phase – Detailed answers, text generation, task assistance | General users (especially Google users) | Free to use |
| ChatGPT | – Pioneer in AI chatbot and search engine – Free and paid versions – Advanced features like data analysis | General users | Free version available; Paid version for advanced features |
| Opera | – AI-driven search within the browser – Improved search relevance and speed | Opera browser users | Included with Opera browser |
| Waldo | – Precision searches – Publish and export Google Docs – Limited free trial available | Freelancers, teams, enterprise users | Paid tool with limited free trial |
| Perplexity AI | – Eliminates generic search results – Domain-specific answers with citations | General users | Free version and paid plan with OpenAI’s GPT-4 |
| Andi | – Chatbot and search engine in one – Comprehensive search results – Free to use | General users | Free to use |
| Yep | – Revenue-sharing search engine – Visual search with AI analysis – Minimalist approach | General users | Free to use |
| NeevaAI | – Ad-free AI search engine – User privacy focus – Integrated into Snowflake Data Cloud | General users | Features integrated into Snowflake Data Cloud |
| DuckAssist by DuckDuckGo | – Natural language summarization – Uses OpenAI and Anthropic tech – Experimenting with adaptive sourcing | General users (DuckDuckGo app and browser extensions) | Currently available on DDG app and extensions; Plans to extend to all users |
| Phind | – Developer-focused search engine – Quick responses to technical queries – Customized search options | Developers | Free to use with customized search options |
Please note that specific details about pricing and user base may vary, and users are encouraged to check each platform’s official website for the most up-to-date information.
Top 13 AI Search Engine You Should Try
Komo
Komo stands out as an AI-driven search engine prioritizing speed and privacy. It boasts three key features: Ask for brainstorming and discussions, Explore for trending community topics, and Search for regular search functionality. This user-friendly tool is free, ad-free, and provides personalized search results. Unlike other search engines, Komo not only generates answers but also reveals the sources it used. Users can still obtain standard search results through this platform.
Microsoft Bing
Microsoft Bing goes beyond conventional text and voice-based search by incorporating accurate speech recognition. It introduces a fully AI-powered chat feature, aiming to serve as your web copilot. This feature refines search results and offers more comprehensive answers. Users can freely interact with it or request additional details. Bing utilizes the next-generation OpenAI language model designed specifically for searching, constantly improving over older AI search engines. While the service is free for everyone, accessing more than four query results per day requires signing in to a Microsoft account.
You.com
You.com is an AI search engine designed to grant users greater control over their searches. Developed by former Salesforce employees Richard Socher and Bryan McCann, it prioritizes user privacy. The tool provides instant answers and offers a free-to-use option. However, the subscription-based YouPro service, utilizing OpenAI’s GPT-4, delivers more detailed and accurate answers along with additional features.
Google Bard
Google Bard serves as Google’s response to OpenAI ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing Chat, emerging from ChatGPT. Although still in the experimental stage, it is entirely free to use. The tool excels at providing detailed answers to questions, generating texts, translating content, assisting with tasks, and more. A notable advantage of Google Bard is its seamless integration with other Google services, making it particularly useful for avid Google users.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT stands as the most popular AI chatbot and search engine, pioneering the exploration of the web in this innovative way. The free version functions as a chatbot but lacks real-time updates, limiting the accuracy of its answers. The paid version, leveraging live data, offers increased accuracy. Beyond standard search functionality, ChatGPT provides features such as understanding handwritten documents and data analysis. For a comprehensive understanding of ChatGPT, detailed reviews are recommended.
Opera
Opera, recognized mainly as a web browser, features an AI-driven search engine. Within the Opera browser ecosystem, this search engine leverages AI technologies to elevate search relevance, speed, and the overall user experience. By employing AI algorithms, it comprehends user preferences, provides predictive suggestions, and refines search outcomes based on browsing behavior.
Waldo
Waldo sets itself apart by allowing users to refine their searches with precision. It prioritizes delivering swift answers and offers various features, including the ability to publish and export Google Docs and compile research into shareable documents.
Delivering to freelancers, teams, and enterprise users, Waldo is a paid tool, with a limited free trial option available.
Also read: 16 Best AI Recruiting Tools for Hiring Talent in 2023 (
Perplexity AI
Perplexity AI distinguishes itself by aiming to eliminate generic search results. It generates domain-specific answers from multiple pages, presenting them in summarized form and always citing sources for verification.
Unlike most AI search engines, Perplexity AI is an excellent choice for those seeking specific domain searches instead of broader web queries. It offers a free version, and there’s also a paid plan utilizing OpenAI’s GPT-4.
Andi
Andi combines a chatbot and search engine, leveraging AI technology to provide comprehensive search results. Gathering data from various sources, it often presents a single result along with its own explanation. Andi can answer questions, search the web, and offer summaries or explanations.
The search engine is free to use and aims to streamline search results, enhancing user productivity. Utilizing natural language processing, Andi occasionally may misinterpret queries as search requests instead of questions.
Yep
Yep operates as a revenue-sharing search engine employing AI technologies for improved search results. Specializing in visual search, it uses AI to understand and analyze images, offering results based on complex user queries.
Developed by Ahrefs, a prominent provider of SEO tools, Yep takes a minimalist approach instead of overwhelming users with additional features. Creators receive 90% of advertising earnings, while users can access Yep for free.
NeevaAI
NeevaAI stands out as an ad-free AI-powered search engine with a focus on user privacy. Despite its privacy-oriented approach, it can understand user preferences and behavior to adapt search results accordingly.
Acquired by Snowflake in May 2023, NeevaAI is slated to be integrated into the Snowflake Data Cloud to accelerate searches.
DuckAssist by DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo, a search engine that prioritizes privacy, has introduced a new AI feature named DuckAssist. This feature utilizes natural language technology from OpenAI and Anthropic, along with DuckDuckGo’s active indexing of Wikipedia and other reference sites. DuckAssist aims to provide natural language summarization capabilities. Initially, it is accessible on the DDG app and browser extensions, with plans to extend availability to all search users. The company is also experimenting with adjusting the sourcing of information based on the context of the query.
DuckDuckGo’s search engine already includes an Instant Answers feature, displaying direct answers above the typical list of links for specific queries. With the integration of generative AI summarization, DuckDuckGo can now address a broader range of queries directly. This approach is referred to as a fully integrated Instant Answer, enabling users to obtain direct answers to more search queries without the need to visit a website.
Phind
Phind, previously known as Hello Cognition, is a search engine made for developers, offering quick responses to technical queries. It gathers information and code samples from technical sources, ranking raw data from Bing. Phind utilizes extensive language models for comprehension and BERT-based models for extracting and prioritizing code snippets. It streamlines this information into a clear explanation using seq-to-seq transformer models. Phind’s user interface is simple and easy to use, featuring customized search options with filters, enabling users to modify result rankings by adding domain names and keywords.
