Brave Summarizer takes on Bing and ChatGPT at the AI search results game
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hopping on the AI train, Brave incorporates its own AI-powered search into its web browser called Summarizer – similar to what Microsoft recently did with Bing.
The new feature “provides concise and to-the-point answers at the top of Brave Search results”. For example, if you want to know more about the chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, Summary will make (opens in new tab) a one-paragraph summary of the event alongside some resources for you to read. Unlike Microsoft, which only uses ChatGPT for Bing’s chatbot, Summarizer uses three internal major language models, LLMs for short, based on retrained versions of the BART and DeBERTa AI models to create the search results snippets.
Retrain AI
To simplify the underlying technology, BART (opens in new tab) And DeBERTa (opens in new tab) are generative writing AIs like ChatGPT that are specially trained to take into account word positioning and context so that the text output reads correctly. What Brave did is take those models and retrain them using its own search result data to develop Summarizer.
Summarizer’s training regiment consists of three steps, according to the announcement. First, Brave taught the LLMs to prioritize answering the question asked. Then the company used “zero-shot classifiers” to categorize results so that the information given is relevant. The last step helps the models rewrite the fragment so that it is more coherent. The result is an accurate and concise written answer with multiple sources attached.
Keep in mind that the feature is still in its early stages. Brave states that Summarizer only uses about 17 percent of queries to formulate an answer, but there are plans to scale that number even higher for better paragraphs. Its accuracy also needs some work. The company admits that Summarizer can produce so-called “hallucinations,” which are unrelated fragments mixed with results. Additionally, there’s the possibility of the feature throwing some “false or offensive text” into a response.
Availability
Summarizer is currently available to all Brave Search users on desktop and mobile, with the exception of the Brave search glasses (opens in new tab). There it is turned off. You can disable it at any time by going to the browser’s settings menu. The company is too asking users to provide feedback (opens in new tab) about how it can improve the tool.
We tried out Summarizer ourselves, and as cool as it is, it needs some work. Not all search results will give you an excerpt, as it depends on what you’re asking and what news topics are doing the rounds. The chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, for example, is currently a hot button issue, so you can get Summarizer working just fine there. However, when we asked about the recent cold snap in Los Angeles and what’s going on with certain video game developers, we didn’t get a summary or outdated information. But the latter did come with sources, so at least it was accurate. Still better than have ChatGPT throws a tantrum or lie to your face.
Be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best AI writer for 2023 if you want to know what AI creativity can do for you.