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The Prompt API

developer.chrome.com

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Re: The Prompt API

#11

Post by subhobroto »

avaer wrote: post #4

It works, I've shipped this as a "local inference"/poor person's ollama for low-end llm tasks like search. The main win is that it's free and privacy preserving, and (mostly) transparent to users in that they don't have to do anything, which is great for giving non-technical users local inference without making them do scary native things. But keep in mind the actual experience for users is not great; the model downl…

> It works, I've shipped this as a "local inference"/poor person's ollama for low-end llm tasks like search

fantastic!

> the model download is orders of magnitude greater than downloading the browser itself, and something that needs to happen before you get your first token back

sure but does this mean the model is lazily downloaded? that is, if I used this and I am the first time the model was called, the user would be waiting until the model was downloaded at that point?

that sounds like a horrible user experience - maybe chrome reduces the confusion by showing a download dialog status or similar?

also, any idea what the on disk impact is?

Re: The Prompt API

#12

Post by varun_ch »

jameslk wrote: post #8

Seems like a good way for a rogue JS script to offload token generation to a bunch of unsuspecting visitors It would actually be pretty interesting to see if its possible to decentralize the compute to generate something useful from a larger prompt broken down and sent to a bunch of browsers using a subagent pattern or something like RLM, each working on a smaller part of the prompt

This feels like a lot of work for low reward, the technical/business infrastructure would be wild. And if anyone wants to offload their prompts to users browsers, they might as well just use the Chrome API correctly? How many server side prompts would realistically be useful to offload to a low end model like this?

Plus even if you really wanted to do that, WebGPU exists and has for a while right?

Re: The Prompt API

#13

Post by gorgoiler »

Imagine a Vendor API that adds a way to link from the page straight into a device purchase workflow. As a trial of the API in Chrome you can order a new Google Pixel 9b directly from any page with the word Android in it!

Or a LocalNet API that integrates with trusted hardware devices on your local network. As a trial (Chrome beta programme — strictly limited but here’s 3x signup links to share with your friends) you can adjust your Google Next Mini underfloor heating directly from Chrome!

Or a DirectCast API that lets you stream elements to a device of your choice even over a VPN. As a Chrome trial, you can use your Google Cloud account to stream directly from YouTube Premium to any linked Google Chromecast devices you own!

Re: The Prompt API

#14

Post by jameslk »

varun_ch wrote: post #12
jameslk wrote: post #8

Seems like a good way for a rogue JS script to offload token generation to a bunch of unsuspecting visitors It would actually be pretty interesting to see if its possible to decentralize the compute to generate something useful from a larger prompt broken down and sent to a bunch of browsers using a subagent pattern or something like RLM, each working on a smaller part of the prompt

This feels like a lot of work for low reward, the technical/business infrastructure would be wild. And if anyone wants to offload their prompts to users browsers, they might as well just use the Chrome API correctly? How many server side prompts would realistically be useful to offload to a low end model like this? Plus even if you really wanted to do that, WebGPU exists and has for a while right?

> How many server side prompts would realistically be useful to offload to a low end model like this?

There's a lot of ways this API could go, e.g. more powerful models eventually, or perhaps integration with cloud models. For example, I could see Google trying to default Gemini as the model for users signed into Chrome

Re: The Prompt API

#15

Post by varun_ch »

jameslk wrote: post #14
varun_ch wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feels like a lot of work for low reward, the technical/business infrastructure would be wild. And if anyone wants to offload their prompts to users browsers, they might as well just use the Chrome API correctly? How many server side prompts would realistically be useful to offload to a low end model like this? Plus even if you really wanted to do that, WebGPU exists and has for a while right?

> How many server side prompts would realistically be useful to offload to a low end model like this? There's a lot of ways this API could go, e.g. more powerful models eventually, or perhaps integration with cloud models. For example, I could see Google trying to default Gemini as the model for users signed into Chrome

I think we’ll get more powerful models when they become reasonable to run on regular people’s computers, in which case the compute costs would hopefully fall enough that people don’t need to resort to this kind of weird stuff.

As for cloud models, that would be interesting, although I guess then the fraud would be easier in spoofing whatever parameters (ip address? domain name? some Chrome install identifier?) to get around whatever rate limiting they come up with, rather than actually using people’s computers.

Anyways I’m sure if it ends up being abused, they can throw a permissions dialog in front of it. Just need to figure out a way to make normal people understand.

Re: The Prompt API

#16

Post by haberman »

This API seems perfect for an idea I've had for a while: a de-snarkifier for social media.

Social media can be intellectually stimulating and educational, but it's also easy to get sucked into ideological sniping and flamewars, even if you didn't go looking for it. The emotional and intellectual energy spent flaming strangers on the Internet is a complete waste of human capital.

With an API like this, I assume you could have a browser extension that could de-snarkify content before showing it to you. You could ask the LLM to preserve all factual content from the post, but to de-claw any aggressive or snarky language. If you really wanted to have fun, you could ask it to turn anything written in an aggressive tone into something that sounds absurd or incompetent, so that the more aggressive the post, the more it would make the author look silly.

This could have a double benefit. For the reader, it insulates them from the personal attacks of random strangers on the Internet. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for real, charged arguments about important issues that affect us all. But there is little to be gained from having those fights with strangers; on the contrary, I think it poisons the body politic when strangers are screaming at each other.

For the writer, it takes away any incentive to be snarky or rude. If other people filter their content this way, there's no point in trying to be mean to them, and no "race to the bottom" for who can be more nasty.

Re: The Prompt API

#17

Post by why_is_it_good »

subhobroto wrote: post #11
avaer wrote: post #4

It works, I've shipped this as a "local inference"/poor person's ollama for low-end llm tasks like search. The main win is that it's free and privacy preserving, and (mostly) transparent to users in that they don't have to do anything, which is great for giving non-technical users local inference without making them do scary native things. But keep in mind the actual experience for users is not great; the model downl…

> It works, I've shipped this as a "local inference"/poor person's ollama for low-end llm tasks like search fantastic! > the model download is orders of magnitude greater than downloading the browser itself, and something that needs to happen before you get your first token back sure but does this mean the model is lazily downloaded? that is, if I used this and I am the first time the model was called, the user would…

> Storage: At least 22 GB of free space on the volume that contains your Chrome profile.

Re: The Prompt API

#18

Post by taejavu »

why_is_it_good wrote: post #17
subhobroto wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It works, I've shipped this as a "local inference"/poor person's ollama for low-end llm tasks like search fantastic! > the model download is orders of magnitude greater than downloading the browser itself, and something that needs to happen before you get your first token back sure but does this mean the model is lazily downloaded? that is, if I used this and I am the first time the model was called, the user would…

> Storage: At least 22 GB of free space on the volume that contains your Chrome profile.

Lmao and here I am still staunchly treating Blazor’s 2MB runtime as a deal-breaker

Re: The Prompt API

#20

Post by cdrini »

fg137 wrote: post #2

"sorry, to use our website, you must have at least 22 GB of free disk space."

True, but arguably better than "sorry, to use our website, you must have a ChatGPT subscription."
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