6 mo. ago • 94%

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

Lol, people are using Brave?!

110
- I tried it a long time ago and found out that they were injecting links to their shitcoins inside the web pages. Like, additional links in some web sites.
  
  I’m still dumbfounded that there was not more protests about it because it should never happen.
  
  53
  
  yeah, just donate buttons, you can donate your shitcoin to the creator, just that, can be disabled probably
  
  -25
Yet another reason why people shouldn't be using Brave.

86
- 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?
  
  20
  
  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.
  
  21
  
  ~~I don't think you're replying to my comment though, I never mentioned nor used Vivaldi.~~
  
  Edit: brainfart, my bad.
  
  2
- 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.
  
  4
  
  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.
  
  2
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.

57
Welcome to everything this year. Seemingly every app in the world is jumping on the bandwagon, and some are more egregious than others. I swear if Elementor (WordPress editor) mentions AI again I'm gonna uninstall it in every site I have access to.

52
Brave buys into hypes a lot. They built blockchsin stuff into their browser, even set up their own cryptocurrency, and now that nobody really cares about that anymore I'm far from surprised they're trying to go all in on AI.

Like with the blockchain stuff, it's a decent browser if you disable all of the weird stuff it comes with. I find Brave to be a good browser despite, not because of, the focus of the company behind it. One checkbox usually isn't enough, there are multiple checkboxes in different places to really get rid of their investor attracting features.

I don't know about any notifications, though. The moment the browser sends me a notification about Brave search, I remove that crap from my devices.

29
- At the risk of seeming to throw shade; why use Brave at all if you're going to switch off all its unique features?
  
  18
  
  Yeah, at that point I feel like using vanilla chromium would give you a better experience.
  
  13
  
  I mostly use it because there are still websites out there that don't work on Firefox.
  
  Out of all the Chrome forks I've tried, Brave is still the best in terms of privacy protection and regular security updates. I disable the weird crypto stuff and ads but the rest of the browser is still pretty good.
  
  2
I'm really annoyed how everyone is pushing AI. It's so far not as big a deal as they make it out to be.

18
Brave sucks and the people behind brave suck.

Stop expecting anything valuable from the "crypto" browser

16
Brendan Eich is a piece of shit

13
- indeed
  
  3
I'm trying SearXNG at the moment. Seems better and faster then all others so far.

Before that I tried gibiru.com and mojeek.com but wasn't satisfied with results or indexes.

10
- do you remember any of the queries for which you were not satisfied? We're always looking to improve
  
  2
  
  sorry, most are too private to post them here, but an exception was:
  
  MySQL RAND
  
  I expected to find the actual manual page from dev.mysql.com , but it wasn't even in the first few pages.
  
  3
- I just started and I’m so much more satisfied than I have been with other non-Googles.
  
  I have always wanted to like DDG but their results weren’t awesome for me (and it didn’t help that I hate their name, but wasn’t a deciding factor).
  
  2
Suggest you use DDG, no AI crap from them so far…

9
- DDG sold out and allowed trackers on the mobile app. It's a slow slide but it's inevitable
  
  11
  
  I use the web site through Firefox Focus, I’m happy with that combo.
  
  Then again I also have a pi-hole on my network so… Yeah
  
  10
- They also have AI, but it's opt-in.
  
  5
- Yeah, except this is what I get when trying to search for anything on DDG right now:
  
  4
  
  Bing is/was down
  
  3
All my Brave Bucks just magically disappeared. Screw 'em

9
- So you were fine with Brave before when they scammed others?
  
  Brave has always been despicable.
  
  8
  
  I have no stance because I don't know what you are talking about.
  
  2
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.

1
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.

-2
- 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
  
  3
  
  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.
  
  0
google web search workaround is fine atm https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/get-google-search-results-without-ai-ads-or-anything-but-links/

-6

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