Today we're excited to announce that Leo, the AI assistant built natively in the Brave browser, is now available for testing and feedback in the Nightly desktop channel (starting with version 1.59).
Same. I just saw that Opera is really pushing the built in ai stuff too now. Brave makes sense to me because it's already based around a crypto ponzi and packed to the gills with "web 3" bloat, they just jump on every techbro bandwagon that comes out but yeah if Firefox ever does something like this I give up
It doesn't need to have a use case. Use cases are for users and our priorities don't really rank near the top anymore. It's mostly cargo cult follow-the-leader product management at this point, so it needs to have the latest buzzwords tagged on like blockchain or machine learning or something-as-a-service so investors will get hyped for it and maybe generate some buzz in the tech industry.
What use are they to me? I never needed it before, why would I need it now? I can only see AI in browsers being used to learn from and monetize my activity.
(For real though, how could AI be used to enhance browsing?)
For real though, how could AI be used to enhance browsing?
Well, in the 90-00s search engines were taught to be used with keywords. Then Google started to make it work with sentences and speech as well. Now AI is supposedly* answering complex questions and getting organized data for you.
as long as the data is factual, which depends on your question, language model and availability of answers
I personally think it would be good if people had access to AI the same way search engines exist, but most AIs are still locked down to an account or payment, mainly for accountability and marketability purposes I'd say.
Before the iPhone people didn't know they needed it, similar with Ford model T, someone asked Henry Ford if he had done some market research before Model T, he said people would want a stronger horse instead of a car
But yeah, no idea how AI would enhance web browsing
I'm not a fan of calling these LLM things "AI", but there are tons of things where this could make sense to help in decision-making. Example scenarios:
I want to plan a vacation but I don't have a exact plan or date. Instead of aimless browsing around or giving my data to a bunch of travel sites that will bombard me with "deals", I can set up an "AI agent" that will check the current prices, weather conditions and etc to find spontaneous trips.
I want to make a "DIY" project and some of the components are fixed by the design, but others can vary. An AI can give me suggestions for variations and find me the best prices for the materials required.
If I am looking at a product on Amazon, an AI can summarize the reviews in a way that I care about.
I can find a recipe that a like and ask an AI to make a vegan/gluten-free/kosher version of it
But when you're marketing a new feature most companies will explain the benefits and uses of a thing. For example if Ford was explaining how a car is superior hed provably give some concrete examples.
With AI infused tech products most companies seem content to just say "its now better because it has AI!!" - but without the selling points.
Same reason I dropped Firefox for Librewolf. I just want a browser! I don't want an integrated shopping cart. I don't want bespoke tracking. I don't want to be bombarded by trashy celebrity listicles.