While Qwant and Ecosia will not completely stop using Bing or Google, they plan to diversify their core technology with their own index to lower operational costs and support their product development. They will continue to use API access to major platforms' large language models to power their GenAI features. The companies are also inviting other European firms to join their push for more tech stack sovereignty, offering to license access to the search index via an API.
Key takeaways:
- Qwant and Ecosia are collaborating on a joint venture to create their own European search index, aiming to drive innovation and reduce dependence on tech giants like Microsoft and Google.
- Both search engines currently rely on Bing's search APIs, with Ecosia also using Google's search results. However, they plan to diversify their core tech with their own index to lower operational costs and fuel product development.
- They are not planning to develop AI model development themselves but will continue to rely on API access to major platforms' large language models (LLMs) to power their GenAI features.
- Qwant and Ecosia are open to other European firms joining their push for more tech stack sovereignty, planning to license access to the search index via an API and considering other forms of partnership.