'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
How to use YouChat as an AI chatbot and search tool
Beyond looking for general information, you can search for images, videos, news, maps, and more.
Looking for a website that combines a regular search engine and an AI chatbot? YouChat fits that bill. Offered by You.com, YouChat provides a prompt where you can submit a request, question, or search query. In return, it displays an AI-generated response along with website links for you to investigate the results.
Also: The best AI chatbots: ChatGPT and other noteworthy alternatives
Beyond looking for general information, you can search for images, videos, news, maps, and more. Plus, you're able to ask it to generate artwork, computer code, and other content. Besides the website, You.com is available as an extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, as well as a mobile app for iOS and Android. Let's see how this all plays out.
1. Sign up at the You.com website
Fire up your favorite browser and surf over to the You.com website. To fully use YouChat, you'll need to create a free account. Click the Sign in button and type your email address in the appropriate field. Request a notification sent to your account or devise a password, and you're then signed in at the site.
2. Run a search
At the search field, type and submit a question or request. YouChat provides a response accompanied by links to the websites that provided the information. As with a traditional search engine, you can follow each link to delve into the results.
Also: These are my 5 favorite AI tools for work
3. View other results in a search
Beyond showing the AI response and regular search results, YouChat can direct you to images, videos, news, maps, and even comments on social networks related to your query. At the search results page, click the different headings at the top to explore the various results.
4. Generate content
Beyond running a regular search, you can ask YouChat to compose content, such as a poem, a song, an essay, a cover letter, or an ad. Type and submit a request for the content you want, and YouChat generates the response.
Also: How I used ChatGPT and AI art tools to launch my Etsy business fast
5. Use YouWrite to create content
You can also use a tool called YouWrite to create content, such as blog posts, emails, and social media posts. At the main You.com page, click the heading for YouWrite. Click the dropdown field for Use case and choose the type of content you want, such as email, blog post, or essay. Click the dropdown field for tone and choose among friendly, professional, or witty. In the field under Audience/Receiver, describe the type of audience for this content. Then in the field asking what the message is about, type a description of the content you need. When ready, click the Write New button. The response appears at the right.
6. Use YouImagine to create images
Another tool known as YouImagine can generate drawings, paintings, and other images based on your description. At the main You.com page, click the heading for YouImagine. Click the dropdown field for model and choose among Stable Diffusion, Open Journey, or Anime. Describe the image you want and then click the button for Use AI to generate image. Among the images created, click one you like and you can save it to your computer as a PNG file.
Also: 6 things ChatGPT can't do (and another 20 it refuses to do)
7. Request shopping results
Shopping for a particular product or service? Hover over the More button at the main page and select Shopping. At the prompt, enter and submit the category or name of the item you want, and the results pop up.
8. Request social media results
To find posts from Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social media sites, hover over the More button at the main page and choose Social. Type your query at the prompt, and YouSocial will generate results across different social networks.
Also: How to use Wordtune AI to rewrite texts on your iPhone
9. Get help with code
Need help generating computer code? At the main page, hover over the More button and select Code Complete. At the prompt, type a description of the code you need. In response, the site displays the code in a sidebar and provides links to related websites.
10. Customize the apps and sites used
You can control the searches by rating the apps and websites that YouChat uses in its responses and results. For this, hover over the More button at the main page and click the link for Explore 150+ apps. Scroll down the app page. For each app, check the thumb's up icon to use it more frequently in searches or the thumb's down icon to use it less frequently. Click the Edit button next to an app and you can manage its use or block it completely.
Also: ChatGPT's 'accomplishment engine' is beating Google's search engine, says AI ethicist
11. Review specific categories
To further control the results, click any of the categories on the left and again rate each app based on how heavily you'd like it to be used in your searches.
12. Customize key options
To customize the searches, click your profile icon in the upper right. From the resulting menu, you can turn safe search on or off, choose a specific region for the results, and determine how recent the results should be.
13. Manage the settings
At the menu, click All Settings to review all the options, including your personal information, your chats with YouChat, and the apps used in your searches.
Also: Best secure browsers to protect your privacy online
14. Install the extension
YouChat is also accessible as a browser extension. Supporting Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, the extension changes the default search engine in each browser to You.com. To set this up in any of the three browsers, click the Extension heading at the main page and then follow the prompts in the specific browser to install and activate the extension. The next time you type a query in the address field or search field at the top, You.com will generate the results.
15. Use the mobile app
Finally, You.com is available as a mobile app that works similarly to the website. Download the app for iOS/iPadOS or Android. Using the app, you can chat with YouChat, find images and other items, generate content, and tweak the various settings.