Editor’s take: Generative AI services are everywhere now, flooding the web with an ungodly amount of AI slop regardless of the subject. Major search engines are joyfully shoving this content down users’ throats, while smaller services are scrambling to offer alternatives for managing the AI waste turning the internet into a digital landfill.

DuckDuckGo recently introduced a new setting to help users manage the flood of AI-generated content cluttering search results. The alternative search engine now offers a quick way to hide machine-made images from search pages, though results may still vary depending on the query.

DuckDuckGo’s new filtering option relies on manually curated, open-source lists of websites known for spreading AI-generated content. One such list is also used by ad-blocking tools like uBlock Origin and uBlacklist and includes more than a thousand sites known for hosting large volumes of AI-produced material.

The filtering approach won’t catch all AI-generated content but should significantly reduce digital clutter in image search results. Users can enable the AI-hiding feature via a new drop-down menu on the image search page or through their account’s search settings.

Users can also access a “No AI” version of the search engine through a dedicated URL. In addition to hiding AI images, this version disables AI search summaries and other AI-related features. DuckDuckGo recommends bookmarking the page for those who want to see less AI content while browsing.

While introducing the new filtering feature on Reddit earlier this week, the DuckDuckGo team said AI features should be private, useful, and optional. People should be able to decide for themselves how much AI content they want in their lives – or whether they want any at all.

DuckDuckGo is a US-based search engine focused on privacy and user choice. It doesn’t track browsing habits, keeps favicons anonymous, and discards user geolocation data. In recent years, the company has expanded with browser extensions and a custom DuckDuckGo browser for both desktop and mobile platforms.

DuckDuckGo also offers a way to anonymously access ChatGPT and other popular chatbot services through its Duck.ai platform. The company says it does not use conversation data to train new AI models and has set up the service to keep sessions private.