How to turn off AI answers in search engines
Some engines have a switch, some only a workaround, and one has neither. Here is where each setting lives and what it leaves on the page.
If you want to turn off AI answers in search, the answer depends on the engine. This guide covers five, using each company's own pages where they exist, as read on October 10, 2026. Settings move often, so if a label differs from the one below, look for the AI section of the engine's settings page.
At a glance
| Engine | AI answer feature | Can you turn it off? |
|---|---|---|
| AI Overviews | No setting. The Web filter (udm=14) shows results without them | |
| DuckDuckGo | Search Assist, Duck.ai | Yes, in Search Settings under AI Features, or use noai.duckduckgo.com |
| Brave Search | AI Answers (once Answer with AI), Ask Brave | Yes, per Brave: optional and can be turned off in settings |
| Kagi | Quick Answer | Yes: the automatic trigger can be turned off in Search AI Settings |
| Bing | Copilot answers | No documented setting, per a Microsoft advisor |
Google does not offer a switch for AI Overviews in normal search. The reliable workaround is the Web filter, which you can make your default. The steps, and what the filter does and doesn't remove, are in how to turn off AI Overviews in Google.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo's help page on opting out gives these steps in search:
- Open Search Settings and choose AI Features.
- In the Search Assist dropdown, choose Never.
- Turn off Duck.ai if you want its chat entry points gone too.
- Choose Save and Exit.
The quicker route is noai.duckduckgo.com, which DuckDuckGo describes as search with all AI features turned off, including Search Assist and Duck.ai, and with AI-generated images filtered out by default. In the DuckDuckGo browser, the equivalent is Use DuckDuckGo Without AI under Settings then AI Features.
Brave Search
Brave's Ask Brave announcement from September 29, 2025 says that all AI features in Brave Search are optional and can be turned off via the settings menu, and that Answer with AI is now called AI Answers. The post does not give a more specific path, so open Brave Search's settings and look for the AI options under their current names.
Kagi
Kagi's AI answer is called Quick Answer. Per its help page, it triggers automatically when a query ends with a question mark, and you can also start it from the Quick Answer button or the q key after results load. To stop the automatic trigger, switch off Auto Quick Answer on the Search AI Settings page. The help page does not say how that toggle interacts with the manual button.
Bing
We found no Microsoft page that documents a setting to turn off Copilot answers on Bing results. In a Microsoft Q&A thread from June 2026, an independent advisor says Bing has no option to turn off Copilot answers in its search results. Another answer in that thread suggests ad-blocker filters that hide Copilot elements, which hides the panel rather than turning the feature off. Edge's own Copilot settings are a separate matter, covered in how to turn off AI features in Firefox and Chrome.
Hiding the panel instead
When an engine has no switch, the other route is to hide the panel on your side. Content blockers can do this with element rules, and so can some browsers. We make Kitsuvo, which has a Hide AI-labelled content and search answers setting. It hides AI answer panels it recognizes on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo results and leaves a "Hidden by Kitsuvo" note with a way to show them. It works from the page after the engine has built it, so the engine still generates the answer, and a layout change can make a panel go unrecognized.
None of this changes which websites appear in the list. For that, see how to hide AI-generated sites from search results, or compare the engines with no-AI search compared. For browsers and extensions that take the AI answers off the page, see best browsers and extensions to avoid AI answers.
Questions people ask
How do I turn off Search Assist in DuckDuckGo?
Open Search Settings, choose AI Features, set the Search Assist dropdown to Never, and choose Save and Exit. You can also start from noai.duckduckgo.com, which has AI features turned off.
Can you turn off Copilot answers in Bing?
A Microsoft independent advisor says Bing has no option to turn off Copilot answers in search results. We found no Microsoft page that documents one. Edge has its own Copilot settings, which are separate.
Does Kagi show AI answers on every search?
No. Per Kagi's help page, Quick Answer triggers automatically only when a query ends with a question mark, or when you start it yourself. The automatic trigger can be switched off in Search AI Settings.
Does hiding an AI answer stop the engine from generating it?
No. A browser-side filter hides the panel after the page loads. Only a setting inside the search engine changes whether the answer is produced.