Duckduckgo's AI AI AI anti-woke product reeks of soulless greed. Is there a viable search alternative that's actually pro-privacy?

I agree with the notion that duckduckgo has pivoted towards AI. Since this year they have started making their AI search mode the default search mode for their search application. I WAS a huge fanboy and I love to have been able to control what search engine was actually being used on duckduckgo. This was a game changer in terms of customization, but they've killed it (why didn't they kill their AI search mode instead?).<br><br>I've heard rumors of DDG being owned by Peter Thiel (google it) who has some shady business dealings (like the rest of the greedy pigs who want to control us all and look out for our best interests), so I don't trust them like I did before.<br><br>I've also heard rumors that DDG stores your search history. I don't use the cloudbased app but the website, so I guess this doesn't matter for me, but it matters for others.<br><br>I heard that not long ago that they banned users from using their app for 3 days for making a woke comment. I don't know that I would want to use a company that's this level of anti-woke and will use their power to silence you for saying something naughty. I WAS a HUGE fan of their anti-censorship pro-privacy stance, but it seems like they are just full of it and don't actually care about this stuff.<br><br>DDG's business model is really weird right now. Their business model is to exist as a middleman (i don't know how their finances work, but I'm sure they sell ads and take money from other sources?) but they don't actually do anything with it. Their website doesn't actually do anything. It's a hollow shell of a website that just takes what other search engines do and puts their branding on it. They don't actually contribute to society and they just want to middleman and sell our data (I'm sure they do).<br><br>Their AI search mode is actually one of the best, I will admit that. But it's hollow because it won't let you actually change the results. If you don't like the results, you need to start over. You don't actually have any control of the results you will get. The search bar is hollow and means nothing. Talking to their chat AI is hollow. It's like they have a python script somewhere that just automatically gives you the answers from a database or something. I just don't get it. <br><br>Sometimes I will use brave because I think it's a bit more pro-privacy. They have a built in adblocker (which I don't use because I use uBlock) but it's nice that the option is there. Their search engine isn't as good but it's more customizable which I guess matters. I don't really know if I should trust brave though.<br><br>Alright now I'm going to rant about DDG's new AI search mode which removed your ability to customize it. <br><br>DDG used to have a non-AI search mode which was customizable in that you could choose the search engine used for your search results. They called this "Classic Search" or something like that. Well, they removed this feature. It's disappointing because this feature was really useful to me and I used it all the time. I don't use their AI search mode. I don't want to use their AI search mode. I don't want my search results to be controlled by some greedy corporation who wants to change how I Iive my life. <br><br>Honestly, I don't even know what the "Classic Search" feature did. Was it like a federated search feature or something? I don't know how it works. I just know that they have removed the ability to customize the search engine you use when you actually search for something on their website, which I don't understand. I don't know how this actually works. I just know that they want to force their AI on us. And this is what pisses me off. <br><br>I'm not sure if I am willing to give up using DDG but I don't like how it's changing.