- Microsoft Edge has a new AI feature hidden in testing
- ‘Journeys’ uses your browsing activity to produce AI-powered ‘Useful Summary’
- This can be a very practical touch – the catches are that it may require a copilot pro subscription and some concerns about privacy are attached
Microsoft has another AI feature planned for its edge browser – or at least that seems to be the case – but there is something of a catch here.
Windows most recently noted the new functionality, called ‘Journey’, in testing with Edge, where it is currently hidden in the latest Canary Build of the Browser. You need to set a flag to activate it, but even then the feature doesn’t actually work yet.
All you can see is the opportunity to turn on travel in the interface that lives in the ‘AI Innovations’ panel in Edge’s settings, and the accompanying text that explains which trips are about.
We are told that Journeys uses AI to transform your browsing activity, including the content of web pages, to “useful summary” to make it easy for you to revise previous work or resume the tasks you may have previously performed at the edge.
Let’s return to the aforementioned catch with this new AI trick for Edge, which is that it will not be free. At least if implemented as the interface shows in testing because next to the slider to activate it is an ‘upgrade to the Pro’ button.
In other words, this feature looks like it will only be available to those who subscribe to Copilot Pro (at a cost of $ 20 per month at the moment).
Of course, you wouldn’t pay the $ 20 just for access to travel, but a whole lot of other things delivered in the Copilot Pro package. The fact is still that this is not something your average edge user will benefit from – unless Microsoft changes its mind about the location of the function between now and release.
Analysis: How traveling can work – and some concerns about privacy
Of course, Microsoft may never be aware of this concept as part of Copilot Pro or in any other form. This is still very early work with testing. However, the company is obviously eager to push AI hard at the edge (and more broadly, Windows 11), so I would bet that this is a pretty probable development for the future.
As for how it can work, we do not get much in the way of clues, although the name ‘travel’ suggests that there will be various activity threads held by Kant, presumably organized by AI on what should be a useful way.
It sounds like a potentially useful feature, although everything that involves monitoring your browsing activity, and specifically diving in the content of web pages you are visiting, are likely to induce cold sweat for privacy – especially after the entire ongoing recall baker.
That said, in the event of travel, the Blurb -Discussen in Test also contains an insurance policy that “your data is securely stored on your device and never used for AI training and advertising”. It takes it to mean that the relevant data will be used locally by Edge and not sent to the cloud and thereby theoretical maintenance of privacy in your browser history – even if the cloud is not explicitly excluded as such. Then there are still concerns about this (admittedly early) phase of the game.
Microsoft will undoubtedly explain more when – or rather, if – the company officially makes travel to part of Edge. As Windows latest points out, Edge has a built-in AI model (Phi-4-mini) that could be used to handle the necessary treatment locally, on the device, stay out of the cloud (and make the feature run more snapped too)-so it might be the plan.
However, if this turns out to be a vehicle to help operate Copilot Pro subscriptions, however, it may see limited use anyway.
