They are much more level headed about it, and they openly say that “AI is a tool and addition to search. Kagi is fine without it”. For their rationale, see “LLM Features” page in their help, which is linked at the bottom of Kagi Snaps page.
I don’t use any LLM features of Kagi, and it’s not hindered in any way.
Yeah, Kagi is fine without it, but if they would spend all the effort they pit into AI into normal Kagi search, Kagi could possibly be amazing without it. E.g. Kagi could spend their time on improving deep site search (Stackoverflow/Github/Reddit) which is one of the few areas where they still lag behind Google.
I don’t use any LLM features of Kagi, and it’s not hindered in any way.