The road to becoming an AI creator News! How to run an AI model on the Edge browser? Super fast text processing and privacy! #EdgeAI #BrowserAI #MicrosoftEdge
Video explanation
What? The usual browser has evolved with AI? What are the amazing features of Microsoft Edge?
Hello everyone! When you hear the word AI, you might think, "It sounds difficult..." or "It doesn't have anything to do with me." But in fact, AI is evolving rapidly right next to us, and is becoming more familiar to us. In this article, we will explain in an easy-to-understand way even for beginners about the exciting AI features that are about to be installed in Microsoft Edge, a web browser that you may use every day!
What are "big AI" and "small AI"?
Recently, AI that can talk like humans, such as "ChatGPT," has been a hot topic. It is an extremely intelligent AI called a "large-scale language model (LLM)." It has learned a lot of information and can do many things, but it is actually quite difficult to operate. To put it in perspective, it is like operating an extremely intelligent supercomputer, which uses a lot of electricity and requires large facilities.
However, many of the things we want to do in our daily lives can be done without using a "super amazing AI." For example,
- Summarize long sentences in a short way
- Ask them to rephrase what you have written
- Answer simple questions
This kind of thing would be more compact and run smoothly on our computers and smartphones.Small Language Models (SLM)" An AI like this is enough. SLM is not as smart as LLM, but it is still smart enough. And it requires less energy to operate, so it's like a "little giant."
What kind of AI is "Phi-4-mini" that will be included in Microsoft Edge?
That's where Microsoft's "Phi-4-mini-instruct" SLM. It's a long name, but it's a smart, lightweight AI designed to run directly inside the Edge browser.
What this means is that until now, in order to use AI, you had to access a website that offered AI functions or install special software. But when Phi-4-mini is installed in the Edge browser, the browser itself will have AI functions!
In other words, you might be able to use convenient AI features without having to do any special preparation, just by opening your regular browser. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?
What are the benefits of using AI in your browser?
There are many exciting things for us when AI runs directly in our browsers.
- Maybe you'll worry less about money?: Some of the AI services available up until now have cost money to use. However, if the AI runs within a browser, those costs may not be incurred or may be much cheaper.
- Your privacy is protected!: This is a very important point. Having AI process data in the browser means that your information and the contents of the page you are viewing are less likely to be sent to external companies via the Internet. This reduces the risk of information leaks, allowing you to use AI with peace of mind.
- Can it be used in places without internet?：If the AI model is downloaded to your browser, you may be able to use some AI features even when you are not connected to the Internet. That would be convenient!
What specifically will you be able to do?
The new AI feature of the Edge browser (still under development) will provide an API (application programming interface) that will help you with text. For example,
- Summary of the text: It quickly summarizes long news articles and reports into short summaries.
- Writing and rewriting text: They will help you think about how to write your email and revise it to make it easier to understand.
- Simple Q&A: It will do some quick research and answer some simple questions.
There are plans to add a translation function in the future. It looks like it will become even more useful!
How can I use it? (It's still for developers though...)
You may be thinking, "I want to try it right away!", but this feature is still in the experimental stage. You can try it out by configuring certain settings in the special developer versions of the Edge browser (called the Canary or Dev versions).
First, you need to download the AI model (the Phi-4-mini), which may take some time. It may take a little more time before general users can use it normally. However, development seems to be progressing steadily.
Tips for using AI
Compared to a large AI like ChatGPT, an AI that runs on a browser may have limitations in what it can do or may have some quirks. Therefore, when you ask an AI to do something (this is called a "prompt"), it is important to communicate as specifically and clearly as possible.
For example, rather than asking for something to sound nice, it is more likely that the AI will perform as expected if you give specific instructions such as, "Please rewrite this sentence into more polite language."
The "brain" that powers AI: What are CPU, GPU, and NPU?
This is a bit technical, but to run AI, you need a part inside the computer that can perform calculations. In addition to the brain part called the "CPU" that is in your computer, there is also a part called the "GPU" that is good at image processing. In fact, this GPU is also good at AI calculations.
The new AI features of the Edge browser seem to be mainly powered by the GPU for now. But in the future, they may be able to use a more efficient component called an "NPU," which is specialized for AI calculations. If NPUs become widespread, AI will become more energy efficient and faster.
A word from John
Wow, a few years ago it would have been unthinkable to have AI directly in a browser. If this becomes commonplace, our internet experience may change drastically. For example, just by looking at a website, AI will automatically summarize it in an easy-to-understand way and explain difficult words... that future may be just around the corner. Personally, I'm really looking forward to the translation function! It looks like it will become much easier to read interesting articles from overseas.
This article is based on the following original articles and is summarized from the author's perspective:
Taking advantage of Microsoft Edge's built-in AI