> Layer 3: Paid, subscription-based search
Should actually be - Layer 3: Paid, ad-free, subscription-based search. (It's a subtle omission that indicates the direction Kagi search will eventually take).
Should actually be - Layer 3: Paid, ad-free, subscription-based search. (It's a subtle omission that indicates the direction Kagi search will eventually take).
Call me naive, but I imagine Kagi would be VERY hesitant to force ads on their users, given that such a step would risk alienating a major part of their customer base, as they're well aware.
If they were secretly planning to to it somewhere down the road, they could just as well do it the usual and proven way and lie about it until they've build a sufficient moat, which they're not having right now. IMO, they have precious little to gain from hinting at it like this now.
And even if it were the case that this omission was consciously about keeping a door open for such a change in business models, there's a whole lot of leeway in approaches that involve ads, apart from the 100% user-as-a-product way that Google went with.
Given the high customizability of their search, they e.g. could give users the option to turn ads on or off. Some people (don't ask me who, but I keep being told they exist) don't mind being shown ads or might even desire them.
I remember way back when the first Google ads were clearly labeled as such and stood visually apart from organic search results. I personally don't think it would mean the end of the world if Kagi did something similar - in a transparent way, and preferrably as an opt-in.
But at this point it's all needless speculation in my view.
We're in the middle of an AI bubble propping up the whole friggin US economy all by itself, driven mostly by a company that claimed to be a non-profit until a few years ago.
What does ai have to do with this? The sooner that bubble bursts the better IMO.
I'm considering Kagi a strategic ally in the fight against big tech right now.
It isn't a big tech company (yet). They don't have much of a moat either. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, they will be absolutely dependent on aligning their behaviour with their customer's interests, lest they lose them and go out of business.
With that said, Kagi has appeared friendly so far.
This isn’t quite the same thing though.
I hope you are wrong, if not… wow.
edit: h/t to https://xkcd.com/641
Anybody is free to cancel their subscription the moment Kagi turns out a malicious actor. And then... go back to Google, I guess?
For me it would probably mean to build a search from scratch. For 90% of my search use cases it's pretty straightforward. I mostly visit the same sites..
Really hope they don't go this way...!