Kagi just shipped the toggle its users have been asking for: a single switch that turns off every AI-based feature in search. According to Hacker News, the July 2 Kagi Changelog rolls out that control under settings/ai, alongside a batch of updates spanning its widgets, the Orion browser, and its news and translation services. The AI toggle is the headline here, and it’s a notable move from a company that keeps investing in AI everywhere else.
What stands out is the honesty in how Kagi framed it. The company admitted it took time to figure out how to communicate a decision that looks contradictory on paper: adding a kill switch for AI while shipping more AI across its portfolio. “We did not want to create a confusing narrative as a company adding a toggle while continuing to invest in AI features elsewhere,” the team wrote, per Hacker News. Their answer was to put users in control and let them opt out completely. Kagi also plans to bring the option into onboarding, so new users can set their preference from day one.
What’s new in this release
- A full AI off-switch. Head to settings/ai and disable AI features in search entirely. Kagi’s stated principle is that AI should be “there when you’d like it, and never when you don’t,” while respecting privacy.
- Widget controls. A new set of switches at kagi.com/settings/more_search lets you disable any widget you don’t want. Each toggle links to an illustration of what it does, so you know what you’re turning on or off.
- Better dice and coin flips. The dice widget now rolls dice with any number of sides, and Kagi added coin flipping, which it describes as “really just two-sided dice when you think about it.”
- Orion 1.1 for macOS. Kagi calls this one of the most significant updates in Orion’s history, bundling three major features plus more than 170 smaller fixes.
Orion 1.1 gets serious
The browser update is the meatiest part of the changelog. Kagi built its own interface response to Apple’s LiquidGlass design rather than copying Safari, noting that Safari had even removed compact tabs. Orion now offers containers, the same isolation feature Firefox users know: each tab is walled off from the others, giving you total privacy and the ability to log into multiple accounts on one site from a single window.
There’s also a new personalized browser border, with transparency, solid colors, gradients, and even automatic color matching to the website you’re viewing. That last feature is reserved for Orion+ subscribers. Orion itself stays free. Kagi positions the paid plan as a way to fund its independence, promising your data “is not, and will never be, sold to advertisers.” Downloads for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Windows, and Linux live at orionbrowser.com.
The catch: Translate goes paid
Not all the news is additive. Kagi News and Kagi Translate both took off faster than the company expected, and that success came with a bill. The spike in usage drove up costs for products offered free, so Kagi has temporarily pulled translations, leaving access to articles’ original languages and English only. Kagi Translate will return “in the coming days” as a subscription service.
That’s the real story underneath the changelog. Kagi keeps drawing a hard line on user control and privacy, but running quality AI features for free doesn’t scale. The AI off-switch and the paywalled translator are two sides of the same coin: a company trying to keep its promises to users while covering the cost of the features that made those users happy.
For a search engine built on the pitch that you’re the customer, not the product, these moves fit the brand. The AI toggle answers a genuine demand, and moving Translate behind a subscription is the honest version of “someone has to pay for this.” Whether users accept the tradeoff is the thing to watch as Translate comes back online. Full details are available at the original source.