DuckDuckGo Adds Reasoning Models to Duck.ai – Private and Free

DuckDuckGo has updated Duck.ai with more powerful reasoning models. Starting today, free users can access GPT-5 mini with reasoning mode, while subscribers get GPT-5.2 with the ability to toggle reasoning on or off depending on the task.

Duck.ai is DuckDuckGo's platform for private AI conversations, supporting models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, and Mistral. What sets it apart is its anonymization: all metadata containing personal information – including IP addresses – is stripped before prompts are sent to model providers. Conversations are never used to train AI models.

Why this matters

Most AI services require an account and store conversation history. Duck.ai is one of the few alternatives offering strong models without traceability. With reasoning models (chain-of-thought) now available to free users, DuckDuckGo lowers the barrier to using advanced AI privately – without surrendering data.

For CIOs and IT departments evaluating AI tools for employees, this is worth noting: usage can remain off-record even with powerful models.

Reasoning mode can be toggled off in GPT-5.2, which is useful since not every query benefits from heavy thinking. The feature is rolling out to all Duck.ai users today.