Brave updates its AI-powered search with a detailed answers feature

Brave, the browser and alternative to Google Search, has unveiled an exciting update to its AI-powered search tool, Ask Brave. Announced on Monday, this new feature aims to provide users with detailed answers to their queries, building upon the existing AI Answers function that was launched last year for quick summaries. The company reported that users are currently receiving over 15 million responses daily. What’s more, there’s no need for users to toggle between modes to utilize Ask Brave. The search engine intelligently recognizes the nature of the query and delivers an appropriate response automatically. Users can initiate a search by clicking the ask button next to the Brave search box, or by simply appending a double question mark “??” to their query if Brave is set as their default search engine. Josep M. Pujol, Brave’s Chief of Search, highlighted the distinct advantages of this new feature. While AI Answers provide succinct summaries, Ask Brave offers more extensive replies, follow-up questions, and a chat mode enhanced by Deep Research. Users can expect contextually relevant enrichments, including videos, news articles, product information, and shopping options, all tailored to enhance the search experience. The responses generated by Ask Brave resemble a report format similar to outputs from ChatGPT or Perplexity, complete with links, videos, and image carousels. After receiving an answer, users can engage with the AI chatbot for further elaboration or to reformat the information. Brave emphasizes that it employs its proprietary API to ensure the accuracy of search results, supplemented by deep research for specific queries. As AI-driven Q&A becomes increasingly prevalent across various search platforms, Brave is keen to distinguish itself with a strong privacy commitment, ensuring that user chats are encrypted and deleted after 24 hours of inactivity, setting it apart from competitors like Google, which recently expanded its AI features globally, including in Spanish.