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Phind continues to be my favorite AI-enhanced search engine. They do a really nice job giving answers to technical questions with links to references where I ca

Phind continues to be my favorite AI-enhanced search engine. They do a really nice job giving answers to technical questions with links to references where I can verify the answer or learn more detail. Some recent examples from my history: what video formats does mastodon support? https://www.phind.com/search?cache=jpa8gv7lv54orvpu2c7j1b5j https://www.phind.com/search?cache=jpa8gv7lv54orvpu2c7j1b5j compare xfs and ext4fs https://www.phind.com/search?cache=h9rmhe6ddav1bnb2odtchdb1 https://www.phind.com/search?cache=h9rmhe6ddav1bnb2odtchdb1 on an apple ][ how do you access the no slot clock? https://www.phind.com/search?cache=w4cc1saw6nsqxyige7g3wple https://www.phind.com/search?cache=w4cc1saw6nsqxyige7g3wple The answers aren't perfect. But they are a good gloss and then the links to web sources are terrific. ChatGPT and Claude aren't good at that. Bing CoPilot sort of is but I don't like it as much.

rushingcreek 2y ago
Thank you! We think there's quite a bit of room for improvement still and are working on better answer organization and verifiability.
smusamashah 2y ago
I see references here but when I ask questions, I get answer but no citations, and I am logged in. This used to be an issue but was fixed but still an issue for me. If I logout and ask I get reference but the answers are using instant model.
- NelsonMinar 2y ago
  I've noticed that sometimes too. I think it depends on the type of question, sometimes Phind decides you don't need references. You can ask explicitly for them. Kagi does the opposite: it's mostly search results but sometimes an AI gives you a "Quick Answer" too.
jadbox 2y ago
In my tests, it does hallucinate answers, even with Phind 70B. For example, I asked for bluetooth earplugs that have easy battery replacements. It always kept giving me answers for earplugs with I know have their battery soldered into the casing. Tbf, perplexity also fails at this question.
- navaed01 2y ago
  ‘Easy battery replacements’ is pretty subjective. This feels like one of those error that demonstrate how good the tech is, because it’s being used for very specific and subjective requests
  - shultays 2y ago
    It should be able to figure out what an average joe would understand from such questions. I think any human would interpret "easy battery replacement" as "you can just remove the old battery out and put the new one in". If a random person asked you such a question, would you assume he has the tools and the skill needed to solder new batteries and considers that easy?
    - sharemywin 2y ago
      this is why search sucks the average person(if they didn't really know what you meant would ask...what are you talking about?
  - boesboes 2y ago
    However, glued-in is not subjective. Non-replaceable is not on the scale of easily-hardly replaceable.
  - Tepix 2y ago
    Can you name some earbuds where we could disagree whether it is easy or not to replace the battery?
    - Tepix 2y ago
      Guess not
- guilamu 2y ago
  I just asked your question in French and the right answer (the Fairphone Fairbuds) is in third position on the right: https://imgur.com/a/dmoaB5r https://imgur.com/a/dmoaB5r Google seems to be better at this, giving me the Fairbuds directly: https://imgur.com/a/7En4e9u https://imgur.com/a/7En4e9u
canada_dry 2y ago
Phind was my go-to for getting more relevant and up-to-date information that could be found on the internet... but that stopped about 3+ months ago. Many times the answers seemed to be getting more and more incomplete or incorrect as time went on (to a variety of questions over a period of months). Even worse it would say it couldn't find the answer, yet the answer was among the sites noted as reference! I've ended up mostly resorting to Bing and gpt 4o. Frankly, I'm hesitant to waste time trying this new version.
0xpgm 2y ago
I'm a Brave Search enjoyer for similar reasons. It's easy to switch between normal search and LLM-powered search when you prefer one over the other.

rushingcreek 2y ago

Thank you! We think there's quite a bit of room for improvement still and are working on better answer organization and verifiability.

smusamashah 2y ago

I see references here but when I ask questions, I get answer but no citations, and I am logged in. This used to be an issue but was fixed but still an issue for me. If I logout and ask I get reference but the answers are using instant model.

NelsonMinar 2y ago
I've noticed that sometimes too. I think it depends on the type of question, sometimes Phind decides you don't need references. You can ask explicitly for them. Kagi does the opposite: it's mostly search results but sometimes an AI gives you a "Quick Answer" too.

jadbox 2y ago

In my tests, it does hallucinate answers, even with Phind 70B. For example, I asked for bluetooth earplugs that have easy battery replacements. It always kept giving me answers for earplugs with I know have their battery soldered into the casing. Tbf, perplexity also fails at this question.

navaed01 2y ago
‘Easy battery replacements’ is pretty subjective. This feels like one of those error that demonstrate how good the tech is, because it’s being used for very specific and subjective requests
- shultays 2y ago
  It should be able to figure out what an average joe would understand from such questions. I think any human would interpret "easy battery replacement" as "you can just remove the old battery out and put the new one in". If a random person asked you such a question, would you assume he has the tools and the skill needed to solder new batteries and considers that easy?
  - sharemywin 2y ago
    this is why search sucks the average person(if they didn't really know what you meant would ask...what are you talking about?
- boesboes 2y ago
  However, glued-in is not subjective. Non-replaceable is not on the scale of easily-hardly replaceable.
- Tepix 2y ago
  Can you name some earbuds where we could disagree whether it is easy or not to replace the battery?
  - Tepix 2y ago
    Guess not
guilamu 2y ago
I just asked your question in French and the right answer (the Fairphone Fairbuds) is in third position on the right: https://imgur.com/a/dmoaB5r https://imgur.com/a/dmoaB5r Google seems to be better at this, giving me the Fairbuds directly: https://imgur.com/a/7En4e9u https://imgur.com/a/7En4e9u

canada_dry 2y ago

Phind was my go-to for getting more relevant and up-to-date information that could be found on the internet... but that stopped about 3+ months ago. Many times the answers seemed to be getting more and more incomplete or incorrect as time went on (to a variety of questions over a period of months). Even worse it would say it couldn't find the answer, yet the answer was among the sites noted as reference! I've ended up mostly resorting to Bing and gpt 4o. Frankly, I'm hesitant to waste time trying this new version.

0xpgm 2y ago

I'm a Brave Search enjoyer for similar reasons. It's easy to switch between normal search and LLM-powered search when you prefer one over the other.