Smart surfing: How AI could change the browsing game

The spread of artificial intelligence into every aspect of our lives should come as no surprise, but the speed at which it is spreading its tentacles is still
rather impressive. Google and Microsoft already have dipped their fingers, toes and several limbs into the AI pie, meaning your browsers are much smarter than they were last year.

But it’s not just the biggies who are going all in; lesser-known browsers are also incorporating AI to make everyday surfing a better experience.


Microsoft has the ‘Edge’

Microsoft’s Edge got the firstmover advantage thanks to its Copilot feature powered by ChatGPT. Thanks to AI, Edge now does a fine job of summarising web pages, answering your questions directly, and even suggesting relevant articles based on your reading. Copilot leverages Bing’s knowledge base and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to provide accurate and up-to-date information.

Ahead of the arc(h)

Arc browser is not a household name, but it has stolen a march in bringing AI to your devices. Arc Search — currently available for iPhones — has a nice ‘Browse for Me’ feature. Using that, for any question you ask, it crawls the Web, reads multiple pages and gives you a really neat summary, all within just a few seconds. It is still early days though, and it is expected to arrive on other platforms (Windows, Android) soon, but Arc gives you a fine glimpse into what AI can do.

Chrome’s time will come

Google hasn’t really put a lot of AI into Chrome as of now, but it is actively working on it. Still in the experimental phase, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) will play a critical role in making Chrome better. While not officially baked in yet, SGE gives you a taste of the future with page summaries and related searches directly in Chrome’s toolbar. It’s still in its early stages, but Sundar Pichai and Co. are betting big on SGE changing how people browse.

The others

Apple has been relatively quiet with AI in its Safari browser, but in June 2024, you can expect a big AI push at its WWDC event. Brave browser has a chat assistant called Leo that is powered by AI. Built on Meta’s Llama 2 model, Leo can summarise a webpage you’re viewing. Or you can ask questions about the page and get answers, clarifications and other viewpoints. Brave Leo can also create content, translate languages and transcribe audio and video.