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Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

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Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#11

Post by giarc »

moralestapia wrote: post #7

Ha! I just saw this win an AI Hackaton in Toronto but they said it was their own thing, quite dishonest. Everyone was rightfully impressed, me as well not gonna lie. I was a bit sus someone could come up with something like this in a weekend, but they were from U of Waterloo, Vector Institute and whatnot, so I said "maybe". Now I know they were just a bunch of scammers, sad. Anyway, this is a great project, congratul…

Did they claim the project as their own, or did they use the open source to build a project?

Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#14

Post by jackienotchan »

AI agents have lead to a big surge in scraping/crawling activity on the web, and many don't use proper user agents and don't stick to any scraping best practices that the industry has developed over the past two decades (robots.txt, rate limits). This comes with negative side effects for website owners (costs, downtime, etc.), as repeatedly reported on HN.

Do you have any built-in features that address these issues?

Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#15

Post by moralestapia »

giarc wrote: post #11
moralestapia wrote: post #7

Ha! I just saw this win an AI Hackaton in Toronto but they said it was their own thing, quite dishonest. Everyone was rightfully impressed, me as well not gonna lie. I was a bit sus someone could come up with something like this in a weekend, but they were from U of Waterloo, Vector Institute and whatnot, so I said "maybe". Now I know they were just a bunch of scammers, sad. Anyway, this is a great project, congratul…

Did they claim the project as their own, or did they use the open source to build a project?

They claimed the project as their own, with a title like "AI agents that do things for you".

One of the judges explicitly asked if they actually made this thing or was it something else like "a video" showing what it would be like.

One of the team members confidently replied it was real and that they made it all during the weekend.

It was a bit too good to be true.

Edit: I found a video of the thing. I initially posted it here but decided to delete it, the reason for that is I don't think they deserve to be publicly shamed. We were all having fun and they probably got a little carried away. If any of them sees this just don't do that next time. Play fair.

Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#16

Post by [deleted] »

jackienotchan wrote: post #14

AI agents have lead to a big surge in scraping/crawling activity on the web, and many don't use proper user agents and don't stick to any scraping best practices that the industry has developed over the past two decades (robots.txt, rate limits). This comes with negative side effects for website owners (costs, downtime, etc.), as repeatedly reported on HN. Do you have any built-in features that address these issues?

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#17

Post by baal80spam »

moralestapia wrote: post #15
giarc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they claim the project as their own, or did they use the open source to build a project?

They claimed the project as their own, with a title like "AI agents that do things for you". One of the judges explicitly asked if they actually made this thing or was it something else like "a video" showing what it would be like. One of the team members confidently replied it was real and that they made it all during the weekend. It was a bit too good to be true. Edit: I found a video of the thing. I initially post…

The audacity. Imagine if someone googled and exposed them.

Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#19

Post by abrichr »

moralestapia wrote: post #7

Ha! I just saw this win an AI Hackaton in Toronto but they said it was their own thing, quite dishonest. Everyone was rightfully impressed, me as well not gonna lie. I was a bit sus someone could come up with something like this in a weekend, but they were from U of Waterloo, Vector Institute and whatnot, so I said "maybe". Now I know they were just a bunch of scammers, sad. Anyway, this is a great project, congratul…

Which hackathon?

Re: Launch HN: Browser Use (YC W25) – open-source web agents

#20

Post by taytus »

moralestapia wrote: post #7

Ha! I just saw this win an AI Hackaton in Toronto but they said it was their own thing, quite dishonest. Everyone was rightfully impressed, me as well not gonna lie. I was a bit sus someone could come up with something like this in a weekend, but they were from U of Waterloo, Vector Institute and whatnot, so I said "maybe". Now I know they were just a bunch of scammers, sad. Anyway, this is a great project, congratul…

Most hackathons are like that.
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