DuckDuckGo lets users hide AI images inside search results

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo is rolling out a new setting that allows users to filter out AI-generated images from search results. The move comes in response to growing user frustration over the increasing presence of AI-created content, which many say is getting in the way of finding authentic results.

The new feature is accessible via the Images tab after conducting a search. Users will now see a drop-down menu titled “AI images,” where they can choose to either “show” or “hide” AI-generated content. For a more permanent solution, users can also enable the filter through their search settings by selecting “Hide AI-Generated Images.”

“This feature was developed after hearing from our users that AI images are sometimes cluttering search results and making it harder to find what they actually want,” DuckDuckGo said in a post on X. The company referred to the growing problem of “AI slop”—a term used to describe low-quality generative AI content flooding the web.

To power the new filter, DuckDuckGo is leveraging manually curated open-source blocklists, including the “nuclear” list from popular browser extensions uBlockOrigin and uBlacklist’s Huge AI Blocklist. While the filter may not catch every AI-generated image, the company claims it will significantly cut down the volume of such content shown.

The company shared an example of the feature in action, referencing a search for “baby peacock”—a likely nod to the controversy Google faced last year when its image search results for the same query showed more AI-generated birds than real ones.

DuckDuckGo also hinted that more filtering options could be introduced in the future, though no specific details or timelines were provided.

As AI-generated content continues to spread across the internet, search engines and platforms are being pushed to develop better detection and filtering tools. DuckDuckGo’s move signals a growing demand for greater transparency and control over the type of content users encounter online.

It is also worth noting that the biggest search engine in the world, Google, introduced an AI mode inside search which can literally generate AI images for you while DuckDuckGo lets you hide them which is very interesting development as well.