You: Just Bake in Search

November 17, 2021

Google has a new rival, a search engine built with developers in mind: You.com. The platform, now in beta, uses AI to summarize information while supplying links. It also promises never to track queries, sell user data, or push targeted advertising. A couple test searches reveal results neatly tailored to the subject. My first two searches produces Wikipedia articles at the top, followed by general Web results, then topic-specific selections (News, Music, Shopping, etc.), a customized “quick facts” section, and more. When I typed in “pecan pie,” it was smart enough to lead with recipes.

Though the page itself does not emphasize the creator’s focus on developers, he discusses it on the Y Combinator post, “You.com, Private Search Engine that Summarizes the Web—Built for Devs.” He announces:

“My name is Richard Socher, and I’m the founder of you.com, the world’s first open search engine platform that summarizes the web for you. We launched our public beta today, and are excited to share it with you. If you’re a developer, we have several ‘search-apps’ such as StackOverflow (with code snippets), W3Schools, MDN, Copilot-like Code Completion, json checkers, and more. All of them geared to help you code faster. Let us know if you have other app ideas for how to make your coding life better. … We wanted to create a search engine that delivers relevant content, not ads or SEO’d pages, and do it in a whole new interface that puts you in control through personalized preferences.”

We learn more from an article at Venture Beat, “AI-Driven Search Engine You.com Takes on Google with $20M.” Writer Kyle Wiggers reveals that substantial funding is led by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. His publication asked Socher about his inspiration for the platform:

“As the economy moves online, it’s You.com’s assertion that the internet is becoming more centralized and controlled by a few powerful, ill-meaning tech corporations. … ‘I had the original idea [for You.com] eight and a half years ago,’ Socher told VentureBeat via email. ‘Today, there’s too much information, and no one has time to read it, process it, or know what to trust. [A] single gatekeeper controls the vast majority of the search market, dictating what you see: too many advertisements and a flood of search-engine-optimized pages … On top of that, 65% of search queries end without a click on another site, which means traffic stays within the Google ecosystem.’

That is a good point. See the Venture Beat article for details on how Socher uses AI to underpin You’s search, the site’s approaches to customization and privacy, and a comparison to its rivals.

Cynthia Murrell November 17, 2021

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under News, Search

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.