Kudos to DuckDuckGo for managing to snag the domain www.voteyesornoai.com, with which they’re running a very (I’d say oversimplified) poll asking users a simply worded question: yes AI or no AI?
More than 150,000 votes have been placed, and the breakdown currently stands (as of 12:14 p.m. EST on January 23, 2026) at 11 percent voting “yes” and 89 percent voting “no.” Ouch.
The poll explained
DuckDuckGo launched the poll on January 19, 2026, so it isn’t all that old. Considering the traction that it’s gotten in the past four days (and counting, since it’s still live), it seems to have struck a nerve. We’ve been on an AI overload for the past three years.
One of the more interesting discussions about the poll I’ve come across is on the subreddit /defendingaiart. For those who think such a community would hold an unreasonably rosy view of AI, the conversation around DuckDuckGo’s poll is well-informed and nuanced. Check out one of the highest-upvoted comments:
“A lot of people who use that browser don’t want unnecessary AI nonsense. Look, I’m pro-AI, but I also know where it isn’t needed or wanted. If I want to use AI, I’ll go find it. I don’t need it jammed down my throat like it’s always the best option.”
Another user opines that part of the backlash against or skepticism of AI’s omnipresence is a fairly natural outgrowth of its immaturity. “Part of the reason (AI is) being used in a lot of areas,” they write, “is because the technology is still quite new, and the use cases are not all completely clear.”
Now, DuckDuckGo attracts a certain kind of privacy-protective, big-corporation-adverse skeptic. Those who cringe at the idea of feeding their most private online thoughts into search engines run by Google and Microsoft (Bing) have another option in DuckDuckGo.
I’ve given it a whirl, and I’m still using it because it siphons away much less of your personal browsing activity than the heavyweight search engines. DuckDuckGo has created a shortcut website that automatically excludes AI search results in images and AI search summaries. Just navigate to www.noai.duckduckgo.com to begin an AI-free search.
As for whether you’re “Yes AI” or “No AI,” consider the use case. As a therapist, maybe not. But as a smarter search engine, I’d say yes.
The post DuckDuckGo Asked a Simple Question: Yes or No AI? appeared first on VICE.
