Introduction to Ask Brave
Brave is launching a new unified search tool called Ask Brave, which combines the features of AI chat with regular search results. This tool is accessible on all browsers through the Brave Search homepage. Ask Brave provides detailed answers along with interactive elements like videos, webpages, and product listings, all within a single interface.
What is Ask Brave?
Ask Brave is built on the company’s existing AI Answers feature, which produces over 15 million responses daily. The initial AI summarization tool was launched in 2023 as "Summarizer," then renamed "Answer with AI," and is now called "AI Answers." According to Josep M. Pujol, Chief of Search at Brave, Ask Brave provides longer answers, follow-ups, and a chat mode enhanced with Deep Research, along with contextually relevant enrichments such as videos, news articles, products, businesses, shopping, and more.
Key Features of Ask Brave
Ask Brave is designed to solve the common frustration of switching between traditional search interfaces and chat tools. It allows users to access both from one entry point. The company reports that Ask Brave achieves 94.9% accuracy on SimpleQA, using grounding tech with its Search API. It taps into over 35 billion webpages to base responses on web info, reducing hallucinations and irrelevant results. The Deep Research mode issues queries and analyzes thousands of pages to identify and address blind spots.
Privacy and Security
Brave affirms that Ask Brave follows its privacy-first policy. Questions and chats aren’t used for training purposes. Conversations are encrypted, automatically deleted after 24 hours of inactivity, and IP addresses aren’t stored. This ensures that users’ data is protected and secure.
How to Access Ask Brave
There are several ways to access Ask Brave:
- Include double question marks ("??") in queries when Brave Search is your default engine.
- Click the "Ask" button on search.brave.com.
- Choose the "Ask" tab on search results pages to switch traditional results to chat mode.
- Directly set the homepage to the Ask Brave interface.
Broader Context and Impact
Brave claims that Brave Search is the third-largest independent global search engine, handling about 1.5 billion monthly queries. The Brave browser reports over 97 million monthly active users worldwide, according to the company. The launch of Ask Brave lands as major search engines continue integrating AI into core experiences. Google has rolled out AI Mode across Search, while Microsoft has integrated Copilot into Bing and Edge. Brave also offers a Search API that provides real-time data to AI language models.
Conclusion
Ask Brave is a significant development in the search engine landscape, offering a unified search tool that combines AI chat features with regular search results. With its focus on privacy, security, and accuracy, Ask Brave is poised to become a popular choice among users. As the search engine market continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how Ask Brave competes with other major players in the industry. With its unique features and commitment to user privacy, Ask Brave is definitely worth checking out for anyone looking for a more comprehensive and secure search experience.