Brave's AI Assistant, Leo, Now Available for Desktop Users

Brave, the innovative web browser company, has introduced its AI-driven assistant, Leo, to desktop users. This development is accompanied by the launch of a premium version called Leo Premium, priced at $15 per month. Leo Premium offers enhanced features, including access to faster and more advanced large language models (LLMs) and higher-rate limits. According to a report published by TechCrunch

Leo has undergone several months of testing and was initially made available to Brave's Nightly version users in August. As of today, it is accessible to all users of the Brave desktop browser with version 1.60.

To access the Leo assistant, users can click on the Leo icon in the sidebar to start a conversation or simply type a question in the address bar and click the Leo icon to receive a direct answer.

Brave's AI-powered assistant is capable of handling context-aware requests, such as summarizing webpages or videos, translating text, and rewriting phrases.

Leo is powered by Llama 2 and Anthropic's Claude LLMs. While free users have access to the basic versions of these models, premium subscribers gain access to more advanced models like Llama 2 70B, Code Llama 70B, and Anthropic Claude Instant, enabling faster and more accurate responses.

Brave emphasizes the privacy of its users, noting that all requests to Leo are routed through an anonymous server as a proxy to prevent them from being traced back to a specific IP address. Additionally, the company asserts that responses are immediately discarded after generation and are not stored on any server or used for training models. Subscriptions are validated through unlinkable tokens to protect user activity and email privacy.

Browser-based AI assistants and features are becoming increasingly common, with browsers like Opera and Microsoft Edge introducing AI assistants in the sidebar. Brave is actively focusing on revenue generation and ventured into search with its own indexing solution and a search API for clients. The company aims to monetize its innovative features as it continues to adapt to the evolving web landscape.