Artificial Intelligence, Business & Productivity
Which AI search engine is best for you?
ChatGPT web browsing is down. Bard is bogus. Time to discover You.com
When ChatGPT suddenly disconnected its web browsing capabilities on July 3, I felt a disturbance in the Force. Okay, it wasn’t quite as bad as that. But the loss was keenly felt by many of my clients who had a ChatGPT Plus subscription, and were relying on Browse with Bing for AI web searches. They didn’t want to go back to Google, and were asking “What can I use?”
I’ve researched the best alternative to recommend, and I thought I’d share my discoveries with my readers. Importantly, we’re focusing on AI search engines. While there are platforms I recommend for specific tasks (Jasper AI for marketing, or Sudowrite.com for creative writing like screenplays and novels) today we’re honing in on the optimum AI search experience.
What makes for the best AI search engine UX?
Namely, I was looking for a search engine that utilized AI, but was all about the “you” factor: placing the searcher at the center of each search request. I wanted it to be customizable and personalizable, while not selling my data!
Big list of wants, right? (Is this why I’m single? I’m not picky: I’m precise).
I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. If you’re looking for the perfect combination of privacy, personalization and performance, it’s You.com:
You can use my referral code—OVAAUZPU— for 1 free month when you subscribe to YouPro.
Or search and chat using the free version with unlimited searches. (Features private ads, i.e. zero trace, no Google analytics, and no Cookies). You.com never sells your data.
Ever.
That’s it. You can stop reading and go visit them right now if you like. But if you want to learn more about how I reached this decision, please read on!
Why Bard was broke
I’ve never been a big fan of Bard. You might recall that back in February a demonstration of its capabilities caused Alphabet (Google’s parent) to lose $100B when it gave a false answer about the James Webb Space Telescope.
Of course, that was six months ago; eons in AI development. But problems persist. Internal messages from Google employees say Bard is “worse than useless.” Just this week, astonishingly, Google’s Debbie Weinstein warned that users of their chatbot Bard should use Google to fact-check its output!
That sounds like a lot of extra steps. Time-consuming, not time-saving. Put it this way: I wouldn’t buy a belt from someone who told me that I also had to buy suspenders in order for the belt to work. Which brings me to Bing…
Browse with Bing was a dud
OpenAI put their ‘Browse with Bing’ integration on indefitnite hiatus due to how it bypassed paywalls. There were also concerns over how it presented some answers in a verbatim way that could infringe on intellectual property rights (and cause its users to unwittingly plagiarize text).
But even before all that, Browse with Bing was not without its detractors.
Although ChatGPT’s web-browsing capabilities looked good on paper, I kept hearing from my clients that ChatGPT didn’t draw on enough details from different sites. Often the same footnotes kept reappearing again and again in a single reply, even if ChatGPT said it was using multiple sources.
I checked this by clicking the dropdown arrow to watch ChatGPT in action as it browsed the web. Often when it clicked links, it failed to read content.
So while the AI search prompts may have been good, the execution wasn’t, because it failed to fetch sufficient information. You might have had your own struggles with ChatGPT’s web browsing (let me know in comments!)
Thankfully, there was light at the end of the tunnel: a better AI alternative.
What I like about You
Performance
You.com summarizes tailored search results for you, while simultaneously showing snippets of the sources on the same screen. It displays websites vertically and Apps horizontally, making for a streamlined experience.
This means you can minimize clicking and discover more in less time. As someone that has multiple tabs open at any one time, and who draws info from multiple sources—I’m always comparing, contrasting and collating content—I really appreciated this multi-dimensional approach. Not only the ease with which You.com summarizes results into one cohesive reply, but also how it’s organized in one place, and I can see it how it ‘got there’.
I can jump from source to source, but here’s the important thing: I’ve got my core answer already there, which is more than the sum of the parts. You.com gives me the main points from across sources, gathering the information and making that time consuming legwork just disappear.
Personalization
Here’s where You.com really shines. Remember those Apps? Well you can use them to curate the type of sources you’d like the AI to refer to when it replies. Just like you might do yourself, in effect, by visiting favorite sites.
One of the advantages of AI search over traditional search engines is that it can give back control to the searcher, and You.com embraces this potential. Normally, the top results (SERPs) are dictated by the companies bidding for the highest rankings. Google has a lucrative chokehold on this business model. But semantic search—partnered with machine learning based on users’ behavior and preferences—could help to topple Google’s monopoly.
You.com enables you to have a say in which sources you want to see (and which you don’t). You can prioritize Apps by upvoting (👍) or downvoting (👎), ensuring that the generative results you receive are from the sources you know and trust. There are over 150+ Apps to choose from for up-to-date information from reputable platforms, like StackOverflow, Medium (shout out for the home team!), Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and Wikipedia.
In many ways the goal is to make the AI copy you would do: use critical thinking to identify where you want your information to come from. By signing in to You.com and using personal mode, search results will get better over time with the help of AI, your preferences and interactions.
And if you’re worried about biases and falling down rabbit holes: don’t be!
The default news source list is neutral and leverages AllSides.com, which consistently ranks news sources for their bias, providing a balanced blend of perspectives. This ensures that even though you can personalize your searches, the information you receive isn’t skewed towards a particular voice, helping prevent an echo chamber effect. You.com’s core values include facts and trust. Basically, it helps you to reach your search objectives faster without having to sift through irrelevant results.
Privacy
Here’s another box ticked. You.com does not sell or share personal data with third parties. With You.com, your search activity is yours and yours alone. They follow the principle of “privacy by design,” which means that user privacy is a cornerstone throughout the entire engineering process.
You.com offers two modes of customised search experience: Private mode, which involves zero data collection, and Personal mode, where they utilize minimal data to improve your search results, customizing the sources you want to see. In Personal mode, they only use first-party cookies for authentication and customization purposes, not for web tracking.
YouPro subscribers can turn off private ads for a 100% ad-free option.
Fancy using a VPN? Go for it, but be aware it might influence some localized results, like your weather updates. And it’s not necessary. If partners require query data in order to fetch results, it’s anonymized and always comes straight from You.com’s IP address. So, to those partners, the queries don’t appear as yours, but rather as generic requests from You.com.
They disable apps that require your IP address or location for functionality, maintaining a strong barrier between your personal data and the wide web.
Just another way You.com makes the AI search world revolve around you.
Pricing
Let’s see, we’ve covered Performance, Personalization, and Privacy. One last thing: Pricing! This powerhouse of an AI search engine is available to everyone, plus 10 AI image generations and 10 AI writing generations. For those of you who want an elevated experience, there’s YouPro—early bird $9.99/m. Pro includes unlimited chat search, writing generations, and AI image creations, plus access to GPT-4 and Stable Diffusion XL.
You can use my referral code — OVAAUZPU — for 1 free month of YouPro.
The free version is supported by ‘private ads’. Unlike traditional online ads, which are tailored using your personal data, shopping habits, location, or browsing history, the private ads on You.com are not. Instead, these ads relate only to the search query you input, not your data.
The Verdict
After weeks of testing, observing, and feedback from my clients, You.com emerged as the clear winner in the AI search engine realm. It effortlessly weaves privacy, performance, and personalization into its searching, making it a powerful tool for both individuals and professional use.
In conclusion, if you were using Browse with Bing through ChatGPT Plus or dabbling with Google’s Bard, it’s high time you gave You.com a spin instead.
Your AI searching experience will never be the same again. Let me know how you get on, and do share any tips and tricks you discover with this impressive AI search engine in the comments below. Happy searching!
Who is Jim The AI Whisperer?
Jim the AI Whisperer offers private coaching on how to write original and compelling content, as well as how to use AI generators to create stunning visuals. If you’re interested in discovering more, feel free to contact me.
I’m also available for podcasts, interviews, fine-tuning AI prompts, and creating prompt libraries and professional AI images for companies.
You might enjoy these related articles from Jim the AI Whisperer:
31 AI Prompts better than “Rewrite”
Ditch “rewrite” and improve your AI content immediately
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