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Showing posts with label Leo. Show all posts

Brave Experiments With Automated AI Browsing Under Tight Security Checks

 



Brave has started testing a new feature that allows its built-in assistant, Leo, to carry out browsing activities on behalf of the user. The capability is still experimental and is available only in the Nightly edition of the browser, which serves as Brave’s testing environment for early features. Users must turn on the option manually through Brave’s internal settings page before they can try it.

The feature introduces what Brave calls agentic AI browsing. In simple terms, it allows Leo to move through websites, gather information, and complete multi-step tasks without constant user input. Brave says the tool is meant to simplify activities such as researching information across many sites, comparing products online, locating discount codes, and creating summaries of current news. The company describes this trial as its initial effort to merge active AI support with everyday browsing.

Brave has stated openly that this technology comes with serious security concerns. Agentic systems can be manipulated by malicious websites through a method known as prompt injection, which attempts to make the AI behave in unsafe or unintended ways. The company warns that users should not rely on this mode for important decisions or any activity involving sensitive information, especially while it remains in early testing.

To limit these risks, Brave has placed the agent in its own isolated browser profile. This means the AI does not share cookies, saved logins, or browsing data from the user’s main profile. The agent is also blocked from areas that could create additional vulnerabilities. It cannot open the browser’s settings page, visit sites that do not use HTTPS, interact with the Chrome Web Store, or load pages that Brave’s safety system identifies as dangerous. Whenever the agent attempts a task that might expose the user to risk, the browser will display a warning and request the user’s confirmation.

Brave has added further oversight through what it calls an alignment checker. This is a separate monitoring system that evaluates whether the AI’s actions match what the user intended. Since the checker operates independently, it is less exposed to manipulation that may affect the main agent. Brave also plans to use policy-based restrictions and models trained to resist prompt-injection attempts to strengthen the system’s defenses. According to the company, these protections are designed so that the introduction of AI does not undermine Brave’s existing privacy promises, including its no-logs policy and its blocking of ads and trackers.

Users interested in testing the feature can enable it by installing Brave Nightly and turning on the “Brave’s AI browsing” option from the experimental flags page. Once activated, a new button appears inside Leo’s chat interface that allows users to launch the agentic mode. Brave has asked testers to share feedback and has temporarily increased payments on its HackerOne bug bounty program for security issues connected to AI browsing.


How is Brave’s ‘Leo’ a Better Generative AI Option?


Brave Browser 

Brave is a Chromium-based browser, running on Brave search engine, that restricted tracking for personal ads. 

Brave’s new product – Leo – is a generative AI assistant, on top of Anthropic's Claude and Meta's Llama 2. Apparently, Leo promotes user-privacy as its main feature. 

Unlike any other generative AI-chatbots, like ChatGPT, Leo offers much better privacy to its users. The AI assistant does not store any of the user’s chat history, neither does it use the user’s data for training purposes. 

Moreover, a user does not need to make an account in order to access Leo. Also, if a user is leveraging its premium experience, Brave will not link their accounts to the data they may have used. / Leo chatbot has been put to test for three months now. However, Brave is now making Leo available to all users of the most recent 1.60 desktop browser version. As soon as Brave rolls it out to you, you ought to see the Leo emblem on the sidebar of the browser. In the upcoming months, Leo support will be added to the Brave apps for Android and iPhone.

Privacy with Leo AI Assistant 

User privacy has remained a major concern when it comes to ChatGPT and Google Bard or any AI product. 

A better option in AI chatbots, along with their innovative features, will ultimately be the one which provides better privacy to its users. Leo, in this case, has a potential to bring a revolution, taking into account that Brave promotes the chatbot’s “unparalleled privacy” feature straight away. 

Since users do not require any account to access Leo, they need not verify their emails or phones numbers as well. This way, the user’s contact information is rather secure. 

Moreover, if the user chooses to use $15/month Leo Premium, they receive tokens that are not linked to their accounts. However, Brave notes that, this way, “ you can never connect your purchase details with your usage of the product, an extra step that ensures your activity is private to you and only you.”

The company says, “the email you used to create your account is unlinkable to your day-to-day use of Leo, making this a uniquely private credentialing experience.”

Brave further notes that all Leo requests will be sent via an anonymous server, meaning that Leo traffic cannot be connected to user’s IP addresses. 

More significantly, Brave will no longer host Leo's conversations. As soon as they are formed, they will be disposed of instantly. Leo will also not learn from those conversations. Moreover, Brave will not gather any personal identifiers, such as your IP address. Leo will not gather user data, nor will any other third-party model suppliers. Considering that Leo is based on two language models, this is significant.