As AI takes over the internet, Palo Alto-based search engine Kagi is bringing its handpicked collection of non-commercial, human-authored websites to mobile devices through new “Small Web” apps for iOS and Android. The “Small Web,” in Kagi’s definition, includes sites created by individuals, like personal blogs, webcomics, independent videos, and more.
These are the types of properties that formed the basis of the early web, before it became dominated by ad-supported business models and platforms controlled by large corporations. They’re also increasingly the kind of sites that can be harder to discover on today’s web, where so much content is infused with, if not directly authored by, AI.
The search startup first launched its idea for a “Small Web” initiative in 2023, designed to promote this kind of content in its search results and through a dedicated website. In March, the company announced it’s expanding these efforts with browser extensions, mobile apps, and a way to filter results by category.
The Small Web website is like a modern-day StumbleUpon as it randomly displays one of the selected sites, then lets you click a “next” button to move to another. Like StumbleUpon, the goal is to help users discover the parts of the web they might otherwise have missed.
With the addition of categories, users can now limit discovery to just those topics of interest from the more than 30,000 “Small Web” sites in Kagi’s index.
These are also available in Kagi’s new mobile apps for iOS and Android and its browser extensions. Here, you can select what sort of content you’d like to see, like videos, blogs, code repositories, or comics. You can also view a list of recently viewed or popular sites, and read them in a distraction-free mode. Plus, you can save your favorite sites and articles to return to later.
While the initiative to make less-trafficked parts of the indie web more visible is a worthy one — especially at a time when AI-generated content is masquerading as human creation — some Kagi users complain that the Small Web product isn’t going far enough.
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On the discussion forum Hacker News, one person pointed out that Kagi is limiting its selection to sites with RSS feeds that have recent posts, ruling out unique, single-purpose websites or experimental pages from being included in Kagi’s collection. Another was frustrated when they came across a supposed “Small Web” site that sounded suspiciously like it may have been written with AI.
Still, the concept of a human-curated web of content that’s also written by humans could be something worth building, especially if Kagi’s original concept of becoming a Google alternative by offering a premium, paid search engine doesn’t pan out.
In the meantime, people can suggest new sites for the Small Web via its GitHub page.
