Microsoft has begun testing a new feature for its Edge browser that adds artificial intelligence-based search to your browser history. This new “advanced search” feature allows you to find websites in your browser history, even if you use a phrase, synonym, or even a typo that is similar to the site you actually want to find.
AI-powered history search started appearing in the beta version of Microsoft Edge last week. “When you turn on this feature, the sites you visit will appear in enhanced history search results,” Microsoft explains in the notes to its beta channel. “Based on your data, an on-device model is trained that never leaves your device and is never sent to Microsoft.”
This additional feature seems to pose less of a privacy risk than Microsoft’s Recall feature, which takes screenshots of most of your computer activities with Copilot Plus to make it easier to find websites, photos, and documents. Using an on-device model that is limited to your browser history is definitely better than having to store everything that happens on your screen in a local database.
In addition to AI-powered browser history, Microsoft is also adding a media control center to Edge that lets you manage multiple media sources from websites. This media control center includes quick access to Edge’s picture-in-picture mode, which itself gets better controls, as well as the ability to control music, video, and other sounds that play in Edge.
