How to hide AI-generated images in DuckDuckGo search results

Learn how to hide all images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) from your image search results in DuckDuckGo on an iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web.

AI-generated images are everywhere, but there still isn’t a universally agreed-upon system to label them clearly as such. Some synthetically created viuals are so good you’d have a diffiocult time distinguishing them from real photographs.

To help you with that. the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo browser recently added a new setting that enables you to quickly exclude all AI-created images when using the image search function. The company says everyone should be able to decide for themselves how much AI they want in their life, or if they want any at all.

How to hide AI-generated images in DuckDuckGo image search results

To hide AI-generated images while conducting a search on DuckDuckGo (the Images tab), hit the “AI images” menu and select “Hide” to exclude AI content from your image search results. This setting is available when using DuckDuckGo’s web interface on desktop and mobile devices and native apps.

To exclude AI results from all image searches conducted on DuckDuckGo, click the menu icon in the top-right corner of search results and choose the “Settings” section, then set “Hide AI-Generated Images” to “Off.”

To get to this menu in the mobile app, click the settings gear icon in the top-right corner of search results and choose “All search settings” at the bottom.

If you’d like to remove AI slop from your image search results without changing your search settings, you can visit noai.duckduckgo.com instead. This is a special version of the DuckDuckGo search page with the image filter automatically turned on, AI-assisted summaries switched off and Duck.ai chat icons hidden.

The company says the sysmte takes advantage of the manually curated open-source blocklists for AI images (including the “nuclear” list) provided by uBlockOrigin and uBlacklist Huge AI Blocklist. The list won’t catch all AI-generated results, but it will “greatly reduce” the number of AI-generated images you see.

AI features in DuckDuckGo

Instead of shoving AI features down your throat, DuckDuckGo enables you to cherry-pick ones you’d like to use. For example, if you don’t need an AI chatbot, you can turn it off. Likewise, you can disable instant AI answers in search results.

DuckDuckGo lets you access popular chatbots for free, anonymously, including GPT-4o mini and o3-mini from OpenAI, Meta Llama 3.3, Mistral Small 3 and Claude 3 Haiku from Anthropic. Your recent chats are stored locally on the device; nothing gets uploaded to servers or shared with DuckDuckGo or other parties.

You can also use search results to continue your conversation with Duck.ai. AI-powered answers (think Google’s AI Overviews box) and Duck.ai don’t require an account to use. If you choose to show AI answers “Often” in the DuckDuckGo settings, they will appear in your traditional search results over 20 percent of the time (other choices: “Sometimes (default)”, “On-Demand,” and “Never”).

Use DuckDuckGo as your default search engine and browser

DuckDuckGo is included in Safari’s list of search engines. To change Safari’s search provider for queries entered into the URL bar from Google to DuckDuckGo or another supported provider, click the “Safari” menu and choose “Settings,” then select the “Search” tab and choose your default search engine by clicking the menu next to “Search engine.”

You can also set DuckDuckGo as your default web browser on the iPhone, iPad and Mac. But first, you must download DuckDuckGo from the App Store on your devices, and run the browser at least once for it to register with the system as a new default option.

Download DuckDuckGo in the App Store

Then, click the “Apple” menu on your Mac and choose “System Settings.” Next, select “Desktop & Dock” in the sidebar and click the menu next to “Default web browser” on the right to pick “DuckDuckGo” from the list. Alternatively, click the “DuckDuckGo” menu and choose “Settings,” then select “Default Browser” in the sidebar and click the “Make DuckDuckGo Default Browser” on the right.

To set a default web browser on your iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Browser App and select “DuckDuckGo” there.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/07/21/duckduckgo-hide-ai-image-search-results-tutorial/