While OpenAI is pushing ads on its free users, DuckDuckGo’s Duck.ai portal is going a different way. Duck.ai is a privacy-first AI chatbot that doesn’t use your data for training, but still gives you AI answers using popular models, including those from OpenAI. The data privacy feature goes beyond as well. DuckDuckGo removes all private metadata (like your location and IP address) before prompting the AI model, and it doesn’t share anything about you or your device. Your questions, as well as DuckDuckGo’s answers, are never used for AI training.
Since its launch in 2024, the portal has only offered a chatbot interface, but now, DuckDuckGo has added a voice mode as well. With voice chat, instead of reading through long and meandering answers, the AI replies in short, to-the-point snippets that are relevant to your query. Duck.ai’s take on the feature is competing with those from companies like OpenAI and Google, and it’s free—though expanded limits are offered for DuckDuckGo subscribers.
How Duck.ai’s voice chat works
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Duck.ai’s voice chat is opt-in, not mandatory. In fact, you can even use it without a DuckDuckGo account. To try it, head to the Duck.ai portal, then from the sidebar, choose the voice chat option and enable it for your account.
Now, when you click the “New Voice Chat” button in the sidebar, Duck.ai’s bot will appear. You can start speaking, and the bot will reply to you. Just like ChatGPT or Gemini, this is a continuous voice chat, so you don’t need to perform any action to ask follow-up questions. You can also interrupt the AI answer to add clarifications or to ask more questions.
While the text prompts let you choose the models (including OpenAI’s ChatGPT 5-mini), it’s not clear exactly what powers voice chat. DuckDuckGo says that it uses an OpenAI model, but doesn’t specify which one it is.
When it comes to AI voice chats, ChatGPT is still the king
Of course, the real question is how Duck.ai’s voice chat holds up against Gemini and ChatGPT. For general knowledge questions, Duck.ai holds its own, but it falters when it comes to the latest news. I asked all three services the same questions, and while some responses were similar, ChatGPT’s voice mode offers the best overall user experience by far.
I tested the voice chat features using three different kinds of questions. First, I asked about the upcoming Samsung S26 series; second, we talked about the Roman Empire; and lastly, I asked for some advice on how to get started with coding.
When it comes to asking questions about news, like Samsung’s S26 release, DuckDuckGo’s limitations are immediately evident. It sometimes flat out refuses to answer, saying its knowledge cutoff is 2023. Other times, it gives vague responses about the upcoming event, suggesting I check news sites for the latest information. When pressed for details, like when the event is or the rumors surrounding it, it goes back to its cut-off period excuse.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
ChatGPT’s app, however, gave me a detailed response with all the latest rumors, as well as articles to read for additional information—basically, what you’d expect from an AI assistant. Gemini Live provided shorter responses than ChatGPT, though they were accurate. I was able to get Gemini to give me more details in the regular text mode, which reads aloud results if you ask questions using the Mic button, but this defeats the back-and-forth purpose of a voice mode.
What do you think so far?
Samsung Event rumors according to ChatGPT Voice (Left) and Gemini Live (Right).
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Duck.ai didn’t fare much better when I asked about the Roman Empire. I asked for a brief overview of the subject, before cutting it off to just ask who the last emperor was. It answered correctly (Romulus Augustulus), and its overview was fine, but lacked details about the transitionary period and exact dates.
Duck.ai’s reponse to Roman History question.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Again, ChatGPT gave me a much more detailed answer (as demonstrated by the screenshot below). Gemini Live’s answer, however, was devoid of any real dates, or meaning. Mic mode offered more details, but Google’s voice mode was quite limited.
History of Roman Empire in Gemini (Left) vs ChatGPT Voice (Right)
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Duck.ai performed better when I asked it about learning how to code. It followed a very similar script to ChatGPT and Gemini, suggesting I learn Python, even offering the same sources for learning (e.g. freeCodeCamp and Harvard CS50 courses).
Duck.ai Response to coding question.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Gemini Live was the outlier here, though, asking follow-up questions about what I’d like to build or practice. It then changed its answers based on my project ideas (switching from Python to JavaScript as the first language I should learn to build web projects). ChatGPT provided an overview, again focusing on Python, and elaborated on the language’s barrier to entry when I asked for more information.
Intro to programming languages in Gemini (Left and Middle) vs ChatGPT Voice (Right).
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Duck.ai’s voice chat feature is a mixed bag. It can be fast, doesn’t use any personal information, and lets you interrupt it. But its limited knowledge base and its inability to give detailed answers are what make it tough to recommend. For the smoothest voice mode experience, ChatGPT is still the king. While DuckDuckGo has the advantage for privacy, you could always use ChatGPT while logged out or in temporary mode to limit the data you share with OpenAI.
