Modern web browsers are rather bland and not very exciting: They're dominated by Google Chrome, browser technologies like HTML and JavaScript haven't changed in years, and browser updates tend to be more bug fixes than new features.
But now things start to get a little interesting.
Generative AI is coming to every web browser: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and other browsers are using AI to transform how you interact with the web by summarizing web articles and making browsing more efficient, said Ritu Jyoti, group vice president of AI Infrastructure at IDC.
“This strategy is about reinventing web search, and we hope it will eliminate the need to open dozens of browser tabs and sift through each one to find the information you need,” she said.
Since the early days of the web, we have searched for content through lists of links. Now, chatbots and virtual agents powered by genAI can understand questions written in plain language and provide direct answers. These AI assistants can also help with writing and editing text, summarizing web pages, translating from other languages, and more.
New chips bring (some) AI processing to PCs
All of this has been made possible thanks to advances from chipmakers: Intel and AMD have both introduced new generations of desktop, notebook and even mobile processors with neural network co-processors; Apple has also introduced its own custom silicon; and Qualcomm is looking to enter the desktop/client space with its Snapdragon X-series processors.
The idea is that PCs equipped with these Neural Processing Units (NPUs) will be able to handle some genAI processing tasks on the PC itself, such as interacting with chatbots like ChatGPT. Currently, most AI workloads are cloud-based.
“The floor for NPUs is 40 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), which is plenty for ChatGPT inference. Previous efforts were well below 20 TOPS and just weren't good enough,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group.
Intel's current top processor (Meteor Lake generation) has around 34 TOPS across CPU, GPU and NPU, with the upcoming Lunar Lake generation topping out at 50 TOPS, while AMD's Ryzen PRO 8000 has 39 TOPS and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite has 45 TOPS.
Enderle said that because these processors are just coming to market and most AI workloads are still cloud-based, “this hardware is predicting a movement that hasn't happened yet, and probably won't happen, until we see mass adoption of PCs with these chips.”
Still, browser makers are developing AI features, some of which will take advantage of new hardware. Most of the AI features in browsers today work just fine without needing a neural network coprocessor. But more ambitious AI efforts will wait until there's a substantial installed base of new processors capable of doing things like large language model (LLM) processing.
AI features coming to your browser
Let's take a look at the AI efforts of major and minor browsers, both on desktop and mobile: Some mobile browsers have yet to add AI due to a lack of processing power on the device, but some vendors are running AI on the device.
Google Chrome
One of the AI features that Google is introducing to its Chrome browser is the Tab Organizer, which creates tab groups based on the tabs you have open. It is designed to help you manage multiple tasks simultaneously by organizing related tabs together. Chrome is also adding the ability to generate custom themes based on your chosen subject, mood, visual style, and colors. Finally, there is the “Help me write” feature, which helps users draft web content such as online reviews and queries.
These features are being rolled out in stages, with the Tab Organizer and AI-generated themes being introduced in Chrome version M121 and “Help me write” being introduced in version M122.
These features are currently available in Chrome on Mac and Windows PC in the U.S. Users just need to enable them in the “Experimental AI” page of Chrome settings.
Microsoft Edge
Copilot is Microsoft's latest attempt at an AI assistant to replace the much less versatile Cortana. Copilot is integrated across a broad range of Microsoft's product lineup, including Windows, Bing, Microsoft 365 apps, and of course the Chrome-based Edge browser.
Copilot on Microsoft Edge has three main features:
- chat: This feature enables natural language interaction, allowing users to participate in conversations, get summaries of web pages, and receive answers to their queries.
- Composer: An AI-powered writing assistant that helps with a variety of writing tasks, including drafting emails and creating blog content.
- insight: The tool provides contextually relevant information based on the web page you are currently viewing, providing additional perspective and relevant data.
To use Copilot, first make sure you have the latest version of Microsoft Edge installed. First Officer Click the icon in the top right corner of your browser window. This will open the Copilot sidebar. Enter your question in the window at the bottom of the sidebar, or use the default prompt (such as “Generate page summary”), or Compose music Writing help tab.
Brave
Brave is a browser built on Chrome core technology with a focus on privacy and blocking user tracking. The browser's Leo AI is designed to assist with a variety of tasks, including creating summaries of web pages and videos, answering questions about content, generating new content, translating pages, analyzing information, and rewriting text. Leo supports a variety of generative processes, including writing letters, emails, articles, and blog posts.
Brave says chats with Leo are private, anonymous and secure: the assistant doesn't record conversations or use them to train models, and no account or login is required to use it.
Leo is integrated with Brave Search, which adds AI-enhanced responses to search results that Brave says provide more accurate and up-to-date information. Leo is built on multiple AI models, including Mixtral, Claude, and Llama.
Unlike the AI features in Chrome and Edge, Leo is also rolling out to Android and iOS, and the mobile app appears to have all the same features as the desktop version.
To access Leo on your desktop, open the Brave browser and click on the three horizontal lines in the top right corner. More Tools > Show Sidebar > AlwaysA sidebar will appear on the right side of your browser. Leo Clicking the button on the sidebar will open a chat window.
On mobile apps, open the Brave browser app and tap on the three-dot icon to select it. Leo From the menu options.
Opera
Opera's integrated AI assistant, Aria, was pretty ambitious when it first launched in mid-2023. At the time, most genAI models, including OpenAI's GPT, were trained on data that was more than two years old. Aria combined GPT-based technology with the latest data from the web to provide more up-to-date information in its responses. However, the new genAI chatbot also uses up-to-date data.
Like other AI programs, Aria helps with tasks like explaining complex information, translating content, generating code, answering product-related questions, etc. Aria supports more than 50 languages, is available in over 180 countries, and works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android platforms.
The Reuse and Paraphrase features allow users to easily refine and build on previous responses without having to retype the entire entry, while the My Style feature allows users to train Aria to write in their own unique style by providing writing samples with formal, neutral and informal tones.
To access Aria, open your Opera browser and type: Opera:Settings Scroll down to “More” in the address bar and find the “AI Services” section. Toggle the switch in the sidebar to enable Aria.
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla is taking a slightly different approach to AI support in Firefox. Users will be able to choose their preferred AI chatbot, just like they currently choose their preferred search engine. Mozilla's initial offerings include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, HuggingChat, and Le Chat Mistral, with more to come. The feature is currently available in Nightly, an experimental version of Firefox for testing new features.
Additionally, Mozilla is working on adding AI features that “solve concrete problems, respect privacy, and provide real choices.” The company is exploring how to use local, on-device AI models to further improve the browsing experience. One feature planned for the next quarter is AI-generated alt text for images inserted in PDFs, which will make them more accessible to users with visual impairments and learning disabilities.
Mozilla also said it wants to develop better alternatives to untrustworthy AI, as many chatbots are contaminated with disinformation and used to create deepfakes and other scams. To that end, the company invested $30 million in a startup called Mozilla.ai, which is focused on finding opportunities for open-source, trustworthy AI and building a business around it.
Apple Safari
The Safari 18 browser is expected to ship with macOS Sequoia and iOS 18 later this year. Safari 18 is said to be undergoing improvements as AI becomes part of the browser's functionality. Though it's still in its early stages, developers testing the browser have reported a new “intelligent search” feature. The feature is thought to utilize Apple's Ajax language learning model to identify topics and key phrases and create summaries of pages.
But the bigger news coming out of Cupertino concerns Apple Intelligence, announced at the company's recent Worldwide Developers Conference, a suite of AI tools designed to work across Apple's product line for tasks such as rewriting, proofreading, summarizing text, and creating and editing images. The conference also announced ChatGPT's integration into Apple's virtual assistant, Siri, to enhance its capabilities.
It's still in its early stages and will take several months to ship, so it's not clear what role Apple Intelligence will play in the Safari browser and other parts of the operating system. We'll know more when new versions of macOS, iOS and Safari are released this fall.
One thing is clear: no matter what browser you use, you'll soon be able to get help from an AI assistant.
