Privacy-focused search engine and web browser company Brave Software is integrating search results into its Leo chatbot. Search results are based on the Brave Search API and Leo is integrated into the company’s browser. The company said that this integration will help users find more up-to-date information.
People can use this integration to fetch information like the latest scores, pull more context related to the topic while reading an article, and search recent and relevant topics to create social media posts.
Brave emphasized that the integration is privacy-forward because the company doesn’t require users to log in. Plus, it doesn’t store your conversations with the AI chatbot on its server. Brave said it doesn’t use the responses to train its model. The company added that it sends requests to an anonymization server first to hide a user’s identity.
You can also purchase Leo Premium at $14.99/month, which gives you higher rate limits and access to the latest models. The company said it issues unlinkable tokens when you buy the subscription to prevent any personal identification.
Brave has tried to build its AI capability to attract more users to its browser and search engine. The company launched AI-powered summarization for its search product last year to show users the gist of answers to a search query. It also made the Leo AI Assistant available to everyone in November 2023. In April, the company introduced an AI Answer engine to search to answer users’ queries.
Other browsers such as Edge, Opera, Arc, and SigmaOS have integrated AI to varying degrees. Brave likely wants to use its advantage of owning both a browser and search stack to refine its product.