Skip Navigation
Mildly Infuriating @lemmy.world
Interstellar_1 @pawb.social

I'm really annoyed by how much Brave Search is pushing AI

I've been using Brave Search supplemented by Startpage for the past 2+ years. When I search for something, I want to get results for credible webpages, not a summary of unknown quality. I liked the previous AI inclusion because it was instant, didn't take up much space, and I could quickly navigate to the websites referenced in it, but with the new feature it takes up more space, is slower, and not really what I want out of a search engine.

As soon as the feature was rolled out I disabled it in settings, but the AI button stays visible, I get autocomplete specifically for Answer with AI and I get frequent notifications to try out the new AI feature. An opt-out toggle should not mean that I still am pestered to use the feature I opted out of.

This is really annoying, and I'm probably going to end up switching to Startpage or SearXNG or something.

Some images (opted out of AI features):

51 comments

  • Yet another reason why people shouldn't be using Brave.

    • If you want a privacy-focused web browser, use Firefox or Vivaldi.

      I thought Vivaldi was also shady? Did I maybe confuse it with Opera?

      • Probably.

        Opera is shady. Vivaldi is developed by the people who used to develop Opera, back when it was its own thing and before it sold out to Chinese investors.

      • I don't think you're replying to my comment though, I never mentioned nor used Vivaldi.

        Edit: brainfart, my bad.

    • I used it because the results were better for me then the other search engines I have used, but yeah I don't agree with anything the company or it's CEO is doing, so there's no better time to stop it then.

      • Yeah that's the issue with them, their products are not that bad at first glance and they have a lot of evangelists online (it was particularly egregious on reddit but it is still the case here). I wasn't throwing any shade at you.

        Search engines pretty much all suck nowadays. I've stuck with DDG lately, but they also have their issues apparently.

  • Well it's Brave. They have always pulled shitty shit like this in the past, like rerouting clicks in the background to siphon ad impressions income or pushing crypto scams left and right and center.

  • Brave sucks and the people behind brave suck.

    Stop expecting anything valuable from the "crypto" browser

  • All my Brave Bucks just magically disappeared. Screw 'em

    • So you were fine with Brave before when they scammed others?

      Brave has always been despicable.

      • I have no stance because I don't know what you are talking about.

  • Hot take I like it a bit, but it is pushed hard. It is nice to have an option for AI not through MS. It is not great for privacy but I far far trust them than MS. It is the lesser of two evils. Sometimes you just want an answer instead of clicking one thousand links. I think the first time you use it they should you give the option to have it on and off isntead of forcing it.

  • Just a technical correction but it’s not Brave, it’s MS and Bing that’s shoving these AI “features” down your throat. Brave is just doing what they are told.

    • How is it bing that's doing that if this is a service provided by brave? Even if their liscense required copilot to be implemented, I would think that opting out isn't something that bing regulates

      • Oh yeah, what vast AI model has Brave developed and trained? Brave is literally powered thru Bing. Even their own “engine” is just Bing results. There is no Brave search engine and if Bing shutdown tomorrow, Brave would crumble.

        Downvote all you want, Brave is basically an extension of Bing that just adds an anonymous wrapper around your query, nothing more. Even the quick results they deliver and just Bing run thru another layer.

51 comments