Inside DuckDuckGo

40 Episodes
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By: DuckDuckGo

Behind the scenes with the DuckDuckGo team — sharing insights on product, engineering, leadership, and AI. insideduckduckgo.substack.com

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Duck Tales: The DuckDuckGo Subscription Pro-tier — private AI for AI power users (Ep.41)
Duck Tales: The DuckDuckGo Subscription Pro-tier — private AI for AI power users (Ep.41) episode artwork
Today at 2:38 PM

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Chris (Partnerships) discuss the DuckDuckGo Subscription: the core protections, private AI, and how the new Pro-tier serves AI power users.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello and welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo to discuss the stories, technology...


Duck Tales: How we're making it easier to use Duck.ai, our private AI chat. (Ep.40)
Duck Tales: How we're making it easier to use Duck.ai, our private AI chat. (Ep.40) episode artwork
07/29/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Mihai (Design) discuss how the Duck.ai team prioritizes what to build, how we use research and user feedback, and a demo of recent UX updates.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello, and welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at...


Duck Tales: How we use mental models and operational defaults to improve decision making (Ep.39)
Duck Tales: How we use mental models and operational defaults to improve decision making (Ep.39) episode artwork
07/22/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Marc (VP, Engineering) discuss how we create, communicate, and challenge operational defaults to make better decisions at speed.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello and welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, the technology, and...


Duck Tales: Our first major Duck.ai ad, and how we develop creative at DuckDuckGo (Ep.38)
Duck Tales: Our first major Duck.ai ad, and how we develop creative at DuckDuckGo (Ep.38) episode artwork
07/15/2026

In this episode, Cristina (CMO) and Zack (Senior Director, Marketing) discuss our new Duck.ai ad, how we develop, test, and measure creative and campaigns, and why we do a lot of the work in-house.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com.

Cristina: Hi, and welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes...


Duck Tales: The DuckDuckGo browser now blocks ads on YouTube videos, so you can watch without interruption (Ep.37)
Duck Tales: The DuckDuckGo browser now blocks ads on YouTube videos, so you can watch without interruption (Ep.37) episode artwork
07/08/2026

In this episode, Peter (Product) and Dave (Privacy) discuss YouTube Ad Blocking, why we built it, how it works, and how it differs from Duck Player.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com.

Show notes: Ad Blocking is enabled by default for Mac, iOS and Windows browsers. It will be enabled by default for Android...


Duck Tales: AI in the DuckDuckGo browser — private, useful & optional (Ep.36)
Duck Tales: AI in the DuckDuckGo browser — private, useful & optional (Ep.36) episode artwork
07/01/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Aitor (Engineering) discuss AI in the DuckDuckGo browser, including how we’re integrating Duck.ai, our private AI chat. Plus, why it’s important we make AI not just easy to access, but easy to dial down or turn off entirely.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com

Be...


Duck Tales: AI optionality, and why DuckDuckGo installs are up ~40% since Google swapped search for AI mode (Ep.35)
Duck Tales: AI optionality, and why DuckDuckGo installs are up ~40% since Google swapped search for AI mode (Ep.35) episode artwork
06/24/2026

In this episode, Cristina (Chief Marketing Officer) and Kamyl (Chief Comms & Public Affairs Officer) discuss the AI announcements of Google I/O, our response, and how our long-term stance on AI optionality led to rapid and record growth.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com

Cristina: Hi, and welcome to Duck Tales, where we go...


Duck Tales: Voice-mode in Duck.ai. The private, hands-free way to chat with popular AIs (Ep.34)
Duck Tales: Voice-mode in Duck.ai. The private, hands-free way to chat with popular AIs (Ep.34) episode artwork
06/17/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Fran (Engineering) discuss voice-mode in Duck.ai, common use cases, and how it’s private.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com

Beah: Hello, welcome to another episode of Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that he...


Duck Tales: How we've made it easier to generate images privately in Duck.ai (Ep.33)
Duck Tales: How we've made it easier to generate images privately in Duck.ai (Ep.33) episode artwork
06/10/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Matej (Engineering) discuss the evolution of image generation in Duck.ai, UX improvements, and the challenge of balancing output quality and speed.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com

Beah: Hi, welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories...


Duck Tales: Dax (our mascot) is coming to the physical world, on shoes, shirts, and security keys (Ep.32).
Duck Tales: Dax (our mascot) is coming to the physical world, on shoes, shirts, and security keys (Ep.32). episode artwork
06/03/2026

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Dan (Brand Strategy) discuss our first set of branded collaborations, where the idea came from, and why people would rep Dax in public.

Show notes: Shop the collaborations here

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

If you have feedback on Duck Tales, or episode ideas, email us at podcast@duckduckgo.com

Gabriel: Hello again. Welcome to Duck Tales, the show where we...


Duck Tales: The role of user research, A/B testing, and "dogfooding" at DuckDuckGo (Ep.31)
Duck Tales: The role of user research, A/B testing, and "dogfooding" at DuckDuckGo (Ep.31) episode artwork
05/20/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Zac (SVP, Insights) discuss our approach to user research, how we run robust research while respecting user privacy, and why moving quickly matters.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello and welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode, you’ll hear fr...


Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo provides useful “near me” search results, while keeping your location private.
Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo provides useful “near me” search results, while keeping your location private. episode artwork
05/13/2026

In this episode, Greg and John (Search) discuss local search results, and how we help you find local cafes, restaurants, and business, without knowing your precise location.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Greg: Hello and welcome to DuckTales where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode, you’ll hear from employees about our vision, pr...


Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo uses data science to measure marketing effectiveness, privately (Ep.29)
Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo uses data science to measure marketing effectiveness, privately (Ep.29) episode artwork
05/06/2026

In this episode, Cristina (CMO) and Baran (Data Science) discuss our privacy-first approach to marketing measurement, the role of incrementality, and how the team operates day to day.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Cristina: Hi, and welcome to DuckTales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode, you’ll hear from employees about our vi...


Duck Tales: The fire button, a delightful way to delete your browsing data (Ep.28)
Duck Tales: The fire button, a delightful way to delete your browsing data (Ep.28) episode artwork
04/29/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Sveta (Design) discuss the fire button, the recent redesign, and how it improves both user privacy and delight.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello, welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, the people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode, you’ll hear from employees about our vision, product up...


Duck Tales: How we privately sync bookmarks, passwords & AI chats across your devices, without you needing an account (Ep.27)
Duck Tales: How we privately sync bookmarks, passwords & AI chats across your devices, without you needing an account (Ep.27) episode artwork
04/22/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Emanuele (Engineering) discuss Sync — which lets you have consistent bookmarks, passwords, and AI chats across devices — how it’s unique from a privacy perspective, and what’s coming next.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hi, welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each epi...


Duck Tales: How we build, design, and trigger instant answers on DuckDuckGo search (Ep.26)
Duck Tales: How we build, design, and trigger instant answers on DuckDuckGo search (Ep.26) episode artwork
04/08/2026

In this episode, Greg (Product) and Karl (Design Engineering) discuss how we build, design and decide when to show Instant Answers. Plus, how we’re balancing instant answers with optional AI generated answers.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Greg: Hello and welcome to DuckTales where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode you hear ab...


Duck Tales: Hack Days at DuckDuckGo — why we do them, and the role of trust (Ep.25)
Duck Tales: Hack Days at DuckDuckGo — why we do them, and the role of trust (Ep.25) episode artwork
04/01/2026

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Julia (People Operations) discuss hack days (our version of a hackathon), how we encourage participation, and some of the product changes it’s led to.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Gabriel: Hello everybody. Welcome to Duck Tales again. I’m Gabriel, the founder of DuckDuckGo. And with me today is Julia. Julia, do you want to introduce yourself?

Julia: Yeah, I’m Julia. I am p...


Duck Tales: DuckDuckGo browser updates — custom themes and password manager (Ep.24)
Duck Tales: DuckDuckGo browser updates — custom themes and password manager (Ep.24) episode artwork
03/25/2026

In this episode, Peter (Product), Stephen (Design) and Balint (Windows) discuss updates to our browsers, from the most popular custom themes, to why over 40% of our iOS users have made DuckDuckGo their system-wide password manager.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Peter: Hi, and welcome to DuckTales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, the technology, and the people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In...


Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo is giving users a choice about if and how they use AI (Ep.23)
Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo is giving users a choice about if and how they use AI (Ep.23) episode artwork
03/18/2026

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Zac (SVP, Insights) discuss AI adoption, common user concerns, and why we’re building AI that users can control and customize.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Gabriel: Hello, welcome back to Duck Tales. I’m Gabriel, founder of DuckDuckGo. I have with me today Zac Pappis.

Zac: Yep, I’m Zac. I’ve been here for about 14 years now, so I think we’ve had the...


Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo is building its own web search index (Ep.22)
Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo is building its own web search index (Ep.22) episode artwork
03/11/2026

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Caine (CTO, first employee) discuss the history of our search engine, why now is the right time to build a full web search index, and how our scale makes us uniquely positioned to ship, learn and iterate quickly.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Gabriel: Hello, welcome back to Duck Tales. I haven’t been here in a while. And I am Gabriel Weinberg, the founder of...


Duck Tales: Browser onboarding — why first impressions matter, user education, and the role of personality (Ep.21)
Duck Tales: Browser onboarding — why first impressions matter, user education, and the role of personality (Ep.21) episode artwork
03/04/2026

This episode, Mary (Associate VP, Brand) Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Bobby (Director, Product) discuss how DuckDuckGo’s browser onboarding was designed, why it matters for a privacy browser, and how Dax’s personality helps users feel confident in their protections.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Mary: Hi everyone and welcome to Duck Tales where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss stories, technology and people that help build priv...


Duck Tales: How we work at DuckDuckGo — remote-first, with memorable meetups (Ep20).
Duck Tales: How we work at DuckDuckGo — remote-first, with memorable meetups (Ep20). episode artwork
02/25/2026

In this episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and John (People Ops) discuss aynchronous working, no meeting days, and the role of face to face meetups.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello, and welcome to DuckTales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. This is my dog, Friday. He’s appeared in other episodes. So in ea...


Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo acquired Removaly to expand its privacy offering (Ep.19)
Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo acquired Removaly to expand its privacy offering (Ep.19) episode artwork
02/18/2026

In this episode, Cristina (CMO) and John (Marketing, previously co-founder of Removaly) discuss the acquisition process, adjusting to DuckDuckGo culture, and how Removaly has informed our customer service and product strategy.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: Learn more about the DuckDuckGo Subscription, including Personal Information Removal.

Cristina Hi, and welcome to DuckTales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people...


Duck Tales: Duck Sans — designing a typeface that balances functionality and brand (ep.18)
Duck Tales: Duck Sans — designing a typeface that balances functionality and brand (ep.18) episode artwork
02/11/2026

In this episode, Mary (Senior Director, Brand), and Nirzar (AI Design Lead) discuss why we developed a new typeface, how we implemented it, and its role in communicating our personality.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Mary: Hi everyone and welcome to DuckTales where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology and people building privacy tools for everyone. I’m Mary. I work on the brand side he...


Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo blocks trackers on third-party websites (Ep.17)
Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo blocks trackers on third-party websites (Ep.17) episode artwork
02/04/2026

This episode, Beah (Chief Product Officer) and Dave (Privacy team) discuss our tracker blocklist, how it works, and why most of it is open source.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) have been lightly edited for clarity. However, they may still contain some minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello and welcome to DuckTales where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss stories, technology and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode we talk about like...


Duck Tales: Yes AI or No AI? The thinking behind DuckDuckGo’s public AI vote (Ep.16)
Duck Tales: Yes AI or No AI? The thinking behind DuckDuckGo’s public AI vote (Ep.16) episode artwork
01/28/2026

Curious how people voted? Head to VoteYesOrNoAI.com

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Kamyl: Hello and welcome to DuckTales where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode you’ll hear from the employees about our product vision, product updates, engineering, approach to AI, et cetera. I’m Kamyl Bazbaz, SVP for communications and policy at D...


Duck Tales: Duck Player — a free, private way to watch YouTube videos, with fewer ads & no distractions (Ep.15)
Duck Tales: Duck Player — a free, private way to watch YouTube videos, with fewer ads & no distractions (Ep.15) episode artwork
01/14/2026

In this episode, Beah (SVP, Product) and Omid (Product) discuss Duck Player, how it’s private, and how to use it.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: Duck Player is available in all DuckDuckGo browsers. When you click on a YouTube video either within YouTube or our Search results, you’ll be asked if you want to view in Duck Player.

Beah: Hello and welcome to DuckTales, where we g...


Duck Tales: Building useful, private, optional AI directly into search, with Search Assist (Ep.14)
Duck Tales: Building useful, private, optional AI directly into search, with Search Assist (Ep.14) episode artwork
01/07/2026

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Ewa (Product) discuss Search Assist, why we’re so focused on letting users control their experience, and future improvements.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: Learn more about the “More” button in Search Assist here.

Gabriel Hello everybody, welcome to DuckTales. I’m Gabriel, founder of DuckDuckGo. With me is Ewa. You wanna introduce yourself, Ewa?

Ewa Hi everyone, I’m Ewa Sobu...


Duck Tales: DuckDuckGo donations — why we’ve donated $8M+ to organizations that align with our vision (Episode 13)
Duck Tales: DuckDuckGo donations — why we’ve donated $8M+ to organizations that align with our vision (Episode 13) episode artwork
12/17/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Joe (Policy team) discuss why we donate, the types of organizations we donate to, and some examples of impact.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: See our full list of donations here.

Gabriel: Hello everybody, welcome back to DuckTales. I am Gabriel, the founder of DuckDuckGo. Today I have with me Joe, and we’re gonna talk about donations, but you want to...


Duck Tales: Hiring at DuckDuckGo, and why we have a 95% employee retention rate (Episode 12)
Duck Tales: Hiring at DuckDuckGo, and why we have a 95% employee retention rate (Episode 12) episode artwork
12/10/2025

In this episode, Beah (SVP, Product) and Zbig (Director, Talent) discuss our approach to hiring, and how it’s designed to reflect our unique, cross-functional and mostly async ways of working.

Show notes: Check out our careers page and open positions here.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello. Hi, everyone. Welcome to DuckTales, ⁓ where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that...


Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo makes the sites you visit less annoying and more private (Episode 11)
Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo makes the sites you visit less annoying and more private (Episode 11) episode artwork
12/03/2025

In this episode, Beah (Product) and Max (Frontend) discuss cookie pop-up protection, why our solution is uniquely private, and the feedback loops we use to help us reject cookies across more of the sites you visit.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Beah: Hello and welcome to DuckTales where we go behind the scenes with DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each...


Duck Tales: The DuckDuckGo Subscription — more protection & peace of mind (Episode 10)
Duck Tales: The DuckDuckGo Subscription — more protection & peace of mind (Episode 10) episode artwork
11/26/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Chris (Subscription team) discuss why we built the DuckDuckGo Subscription, its four features, and how it protects more of what you do online.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: Learn more about the DuckDuckGo Subscription here.

Gabriel: Hello everybody. Welcome back to DuckTales, everything DuckTale go. I’m Gabriel, founder, CEO. I got with me Chris. Do want to introduce yourself?

...


Duck Tales: Marketing at DuckDuckGo — how we practice the privacy we preach (Episode 9)
Duck Tales: Marketing at DuckDuckGo — how we practice the privacy we preach (Episode 9) episode artwork
11/19/2025

In this episode, Cristina (SVP, Marketing) and Chuck (Front‑end) discuss private marketing at DuckDuckGo, from making decisions with less data to the role of privacy engineers in marketing projects.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Cristina: Hi, and welcome to DuckTales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that help build privacy tools for everyone. In each episode, you’ll hear from employees abou...


Duck Tales: Improving AI chat organization, and feature decisions at DuckDuckGo (Episode 8)
Duck Tales: Improving AI chat organization, and feature decisions at DuckDuckGo (Episode 8) episode artwork
11/12/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Esteban (Design) discuss AI chat organization, from automatic chat naming to ‘pinning’ your most used chats.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Gabriel: Hello, welcome to DuckTales. Inside DuckDuckGo features people, et cetera. You got me as the host again, this time I’m the founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo. And I got Esteban with me today. Esteban, wanna introduce yourself?

Esteban: Sure. Hi everyo...


Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo protects users from different types of scams (Episode 7)
Duck Tales: How DuckDuckGo protects users from different types of scams (Episode 7) episode artwork
11/05/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Thom (Security Team) discuss Scam Blocker. How it works, the types of scams it protects against, and why our ‘bad pages’ list is updated so often.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: See the full blog post on Scam Blocker.

Gabriel: Hello, welcome to DuckTales. I’m Gabriel, CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo. DuckTales is everything kind of inside DuckDuckGo. Today we have a...


Duck Tales: The internet’s privacy problem, and how DuckDuckGo is solving it (Episode 6)
Duck Tales: The internet’s privacy problem, and how DuckDuckGo is solving it (Episode 6) episode artwork
10/29/2025

In this episode, Cristina (SVP, Marketing) and Peter (Director, Product) discuss digital fingerprinting, privacy washing, and how hidden trackers appear in the majority of popular websites. Plus, the steps you can take to protect yourself online.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

CristinaHi, and welcome to DuckTales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and discuss the stories, technology, and people that help provide privacy tools for everyone.

In...


Duck Tales: More ways to customize DuckDuckGo — now you can exclude certain websites from search results (episode 5)
Duck Tales: More ways to customize DuckDuckGo — now you can exclude certain websites from search results (episode 5) episode artwork
10/22/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder) and Greg (Product, Search) discuss how we’re giving users even more ways to customize their search experience with site exclusions — an easy way to remove certain websites from appearing in search results.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Gabriel:Hello again, welcome to DuckTales, our inside DuckDuckGo podcast video thing. I don’t know what you call us exactly. Today I have Greg with us. Greg, you wa...


Duck Tales: Delight at DuckDuckGo — and why we’ve created 350+ versions of our mascot (Dax the Duck) (Episode 4)
Duck Tales: Delight at DuckDuckGo — and why we’ve created 350+ versions of our mascot (Dax the Duck) (Episode 4) episode artwork
10/15/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (founder) and Beah (VP, Product) discuss functional and non-functional product delight, how we’ve created 350+ versions of our mascot (and counting), and why AI is so bad at adding mustaches to Ducks.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

GabrielHello again, welcome to Duck Tales. ⁓ I think this is gonna be episode four. Hopefully it’s getting better. Today I am not interviewing Beah. Beah’s actually gonna interview me about...


Duck Tales: DuckDuckGo now lets you customize the ‘personality’ of AI responses (episode 3)
Duck Tales: DuckDuckGo now lets you customize the ‘personality’ of AI responses (episode 3) episode artwork
10/08/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder & CEO) speaks with Nirzar (Duck.ai lead) about how we’re making AI more useful by letting users choose the tone and length of AI responses.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Gabriel Hello again, welcome to Duck Tales, where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo and talk about things going on inside the company and features for building, cetera, et We’re gonna talk AI agai...


Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo built a way to filter out AI-generated images (episode 2)
Duck Tales: Why DuckDuckGo built a way to filter out AI-generated images (episode 2) episode artwork
10/01/2025

In this episode, Gabriel (Founder & CEO) introduces our vision for AI and speaks with Rachel (front-end team) about our newly released AI image filter.

Disclaimers: (1) The audio, video (above), and transcript (below) are unedited and may contain minor inaccuracies or transcription errors. (2) This website is operated by Substack. This is their privacy policy.

Show notes: See the full post on our approach to AI — private, useful, and optional.

GabrielHello, hello everybody. Welcome to DuckTales. This is our series where we go behind the scenes at DuckDuckGo. I'm the founder of DuckDuckGo. I have Ra...