Copilot Mode in Edge brings more powerful agentic AI capabilities to Microsoft’s web browser and is available now as part of a limited preview in the US, the company said in a blog post on Thursday.
Recent versions of Edge already had many of the same features found in competing AI web browsers, such as Perplexity’s Comet, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas and Google’s Gemini in Chrome. This includes having an AI in the corner to chat about the web page you’re looking at, analyze content across multiple tabs, or search the web.
Users who update to the latest version of Edg can enter into a limited preview and activate a Copilot toggle. Microsoft says Copilot can be toggled off at any time.
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Copilot Mode in Edge includes Actions and Journeys, two features that were announced earlier in the year. Actions, as the name suggests, gives Edge agentic capabilities — it can do things on your behalf. For example, using Actions with Voice, users can talk to their browser and have it open up a web page or ask Copilot to find a part in the article discussing a specific topic.
Journeys remembers a user’s browsing history and can help them pick up where they left off, along with suggestions of where to go next. In Journeys, users can see their past browsing sessions and group them accordingly. For example, if researching for a new TV to buy the day prior, Journeys can organize that previous research session and help users pick it back up.
Microsoft didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
The release of Copilot Mode in Edge comes as the browser wars are heating up, thanks to the advent of generative AI. Earlier this week, OpenAI announced its ChatGPT Atlas web browser that integrates agentic systems to allow an AI to analyze data or do tasks on behalf of the user. Perplexity released Comet earlier this year, as did Google with Gemini in Chrome.
Read more: OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Atlas, Challenging Google Chrome With an AI-First Browser
At the moment, the browser market is dominated by Google, with Chrome maintaining a 71% market share, according to GlobalStats. After Apple’s Safari, Microsoft’s Edge is a distant third at 4.67%. It’s a tremendous fall for Microsoft, as its Internet Explorer web browser once dominated the landscape at 95% global market share. Granted, Internet Explorer was the default on Windows, and Microsoft was ultimately sued by the US Department of Justice for engaging in anticompetitive behavior. This, somewhat ironically, paved the way for Chrome to enter the field.
Microsoft said user data will remain secure and it will only collect data that’s meant to “improve your experience.” Browsing history can’t be accessed without users opting in via the Page option in settings.
