The Next Killer AI Feature? No AI at All
Computerworld, Thursday, July 9th, 2026
A growing market pays a premium for products that explicitly omit AI features.
Columnist JR Raphael argues that as AI becomes ubiquitous, a market is emerging for services that offer the absence of AI as a premium feature, reflecting a gap between industry enthusiasm and user frustration with forced integration.
Premium search engine Kagi is gaining traction with clean, AI-free results, nearly doubling subscribers from 38,000 to about 73,000, while DuckDuckGo sees adoption surges whenever Google expands AI in search.
Research shows resistance: 60% find AI in brand messaging off-putting and only 9% embrace AI in searches. He suggests AI-free alternatives to tools like Docs, Notion, and Slack represent a real opportunity.