Brave Launches ‘Leo’, Its AI Assistant Based in Llama 2 and Claude

IBL News | New York

The Brave web browser released its AI-powered assistant, Leo, to all desktop users with version 1.60.

The chatbot is intended to get questions answered, summarize pages or videos, translate text, and rewrite phrases, among other uses. The Android and iOS app is expected in the coming months.

The company is also releasing a $15 per month paid version called Leo Premium “with features like access to faster and better large language models (LLMs) and higher-rate limits.”

Users can access the Leo assistant by clicking the Leo icon in the sidebar or by typing a question in the address bar and clicking the Leo icon to get a direct answer.

Leo is based on Llama 2 and Anthropic’s Claude LLMs. While free users get the basic version of these models, paying users will get access to models like Llama 2 70B, Code Llama 70B, and Anthropic Claude Instant. These models enable faster and more accurate responses.

Brave said that all requests to Leo use an anonymous server as a proxy, so they can’t be linked back to a particular IP.  Additionally, the company specified that responses are immediately discarded after generation, and not stored on any server or used to train models. Brave noted that all subscriptions are validated by unlinkable tokens, so the company can’t know about your activity or your email.

Other browsers like Opera, Microsoft Edge, SigmaOS, and Browser Company’s Arc have also introduced AI assistants in the sidebar.

Brave, which laid off 9% of its staff in October, launched in May its own search API for clients, with prices starting from $3 per 1,000 queries.