AI is the hype, and pretty much all big tech companies are trying to use the technology for their own benefits.
And they include Microsoft, the tech titan that is also the backer of OpenAI. After implementing OpenAI's AI to utilize both GPT-4 and DALL·E 3 to create what it calls the 'Copilot', this time, Microsoft is stepping up a bit.
And that is by rebranding its Edge internet web browser.
No longer that Edge is just a modernized Internet Explorer, and a lesser-known, Chrome-level wannabe, because Microsoft is trying to claim Edge is on the cutting edge of AI.
The Redmond tech giant has started calling its native internet explorer "Microsoft Edge: AI Browser."
The moniker appears when searching for Edge on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
Before this, Microsoft had already called Edge "your AI-powered browser" after adding Bing AI capabilities to it. This time, the word "AI" is right in the title, meaning that it's no longer a gimmick.
By rebranding Edge to be an "AI Browser" means that AI is now the main course.
To show what it meant, the description for the app now talks up the browser’s GPT-4 capabilities with the built-in Copilot chatbot following on from Bing search. The browser also has access to OpenAI’s DALL·E 3 AI image generator model, accessible through the Copilot.
Long story short, Microsoft is bringing OpenAI's full capacity, but for free.
But the "AI Browser" here is unlike Copilot on Bing or on desktop, because it doesn’t have the ability to access users' usage history any of their other apps.
On Apple's App Store, the description of the app goes on to explain that there’s "no search history saved" to Bing or users’ Microsoft accounts. However, in the company’s terms of service under its "AI Services" section, Microsoft does note it processes and stores your AI inputs "for purposes of monitoring for and preventing abusive or harmful uses or outputs of the service."
The company has previously claimed in a blog post that Bing Enterprise Chat, the business-oriented version of the Bing AI, doesn’t save chat data and that "no one at Microsoft can view your data."
Microsoft Edge: AI Browser name change packs a punch, but does not appear to have been accompanied by any significant changes.
The name change does attract a lot of negative comments.
Some argue that Edge is not an AI browser, claiming that it is only a mere browser but with AI features. But regardless, Microsoft does embed Copilot right inside the browser, by making it readily available at the push of a button, and that the AI features can interact with what's on users' screen, such as article summaries.
So in one way or another, Edge is already an AI browser, more or less.
The name change just emphasized it.
Previously, Microsoft brought its various Copilots under unified branding, which is in line with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's vision to integrate AI into all Microsoft services.
Some referred to 2023 as the year of AI, and in 2024, It looks like it is going to be another big AI push for Microsoft.