Today we're launching Toru, an AI-native search engine that understands what you're really asking and gives you direct answers, not just a list of blue links.
The problem with search today
Search hasn't fundamentally changed in 20 years. You type keywords into a box, get 10 links (and 5 ads), then spend the next 20 minutes clicking through pages to find your answer. It's slow, cluttered, and optimized for advertisers, not you.
AI chatbots got closer to solving this, but they have their own problems: no sources, no context, and you never know if what they're telling you is accurate or hallucinated.
Why we built Toru
We wanted to combine the best of both worlds: the reliability of search with the conversational ease of AI. Toru lets you ask questions in natural language and get direct, accurate answers with sources, so you know where the information came from.
Here's what drove our design:
- Answers, not links: You shouldn't have to dig through 10 websites to answer a simple question.
- Conversational by nature: Ask follow-up questions like you're talking to a person. Toru remembers the context.
- Privacy first: No ads. No tracking. Your searches aren't sold to advertisers or used to build a profile on you.
- Fast: Get answers in seconds, not minutes of clicking and scrolling.
What Toru does today (MVP)
This is our first release, so we're starting focused and simple:
- Natural language search: Ask questions the way you'd ask a friend. "What's the best way to learn Python?" instead of "Python tutorial beginner 2024".
- Direct answers with sources: Get a clear answer and see exactly where it came from so you can verify or dig deeper.
- Conversation memory: Ask follow-up questions without repeating yourself. Toru remembers what you were talking about.
- Search history: Come back to past conversations anytime. Your searches are saved and private to you.
How it works (without the jargon)
When you search with Toru, here's what happens behind the scenes:
- Understanding: Toru's AI figures out what you're actually asking, even if your question is vague or conversational.
- Retrieval: We search across multiple sources to find the most relevant, accurate information.
- Synthesis: Instead of just showing you links, Toru reads the sources and synthesizes an answer in plain language.
- Attribution: Every answer shows you where the information came from, so you're never wondering if it's accurate.
What we're not doing
Toru is built differently from other search engines. Here's what you won't find:
- No ads: We're not in the advertising business.
- No tracking: We don't build profiles or sell your data.
- No bloat: Just search. No unnecessary features or clutter.
This is just the beginning
This is our MVP,the simplest version of what Toru can be. We're already working on:
- Voice search (ask questions hands-free)
- File upload (search through your PDFs and documents)
- Image search (upload a photo and ask questions about it)
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Team workspaces for collaborative research
Try it yourself
Toru is live and free to use. Sign up, try a few searches, and let us know what you think. We're a small team and we read every piece of feedback.
This is the first step in reimagining how we find and interact with information online. We're just getting started.