Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models • Hacker News Board

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#21

Post by amlib » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:32 PM UTC

nerdponx wrote: post #4

constantcrying wrote: post #3

The question I have is, why should your browser also be the interface to local AI models? Seems totally unrelated to be honest.

Because we consume and interact with so much of our information via browser that it's a natural pairing? Why does my browser have a PDF reader and print manager built in?

The very things that should ideally be part of an operating system and be called/embedded by the browser as need be?

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#22

Post by mrb » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:34 PM UTC

Eriks wrote: post #13

Browsers are for browsing internet. So many of them are now turning into bloatware..

Opposite viewpoint: browsers are for much more than "browsing". It's been 10-20 years that browsers have become the only app many people ever use, on a computer. So they already almost do everything: video conferencing, instant messaging, editing documents, sending emails, image editors, video games, calendar management, etc

So at this point, frankly, "running a local LLM" is a pretty minor feature compared to the entire feature set of an average browser.

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#23

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:37 PM UTC

mrb wrote: post #22

Eriks wrote: post #13

Browsers are for browsing internet. So many of them are now turning into bloatware..

Opposite viewpoint: browsers are for much more than "browsing". It's been 10-20 years that browsers have become the only app many people ever use, on a computer. So they already almost do everything: video conferencing, instant messaging, editing documents, sending emails, image editors, video games, calendar management, etc So at this point, frankly, "running a local LLM" is a pretty minor feature compared to the en…

[deleted]

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#24

Post by Spivak » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:37 PM UTC

Eriks wrote: post #13

Browsers are for browsing internet. So many of them are now turning into bloatware..

This hasn't been true since before IE6. ActiveX, Flash, Silverlight, and beyond started the path of browser's being generic application hosts.

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#25

Post by eastendguy » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:37 PM UTC

If browser extensions could access the local LLMs - Now THAT would be a very cool feature.

Imagine what (test) automation extensions like Selenium IDE or Ui.vision could do then. Or translation extensions. Or.... so many cool options.

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#26

Post by ben_w » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:39 PM UTC

constantcrying wrote: post #3

The question I have is, why should your browser also be the interface to local AI models? Seems totally unrelated to be honest.

Save on bandwidth by generating content on the fly rather than having to visit websites which used their own GenAI to generate content without regard for accuracy as its sole purpose is to attract the attention of real humans which can then be sold via a real-time auction run by another AI (Google ads etc.) to the real customers, who are likewise generating advertising with GenAI and testing which works better via another (A/B, multi-armed bandit, or genetic algorithm).

GenAI on the browser skips the intermediaries and probably loads faster than all the JS needed for 1200 analytics "partners" and reinventing the wheel badly by making it load text on the fly based on your scroll position rather than letting the browser handle it because someone just assumed a few thousand lines must be slow and never stopped to try it.

Plus it being local means it might even work when you have no signal.

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#27

Post by evrimoztamur » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:39 PM UTC

Do the models get the content of the page fed into the context or not? Otherwise it is just plasterwork.

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#28

Post by MrSkyNet » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:39 PM UTC

Eriks wrote: post #13

Browsers are for browsing internet. So many of them are now turning into bloatware..

Browsers are the most aligned virtual machine with support for scripting/programming and visualization.

And 'browsing the internet' sounds much different than 'doing nearly everything'

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#29

Post by rubymamis » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:40 PM UTC

Eriks wrote: post #13

Browsers are for browsing internet. So many of them are now turning into bloatware..

I still don’t understand all the hype around Arc. I tried to use it but all its features just presented friction from browsing the web. I expect a browser (or any good product, for that matter) to just get out my way. It has some nice features (Split View, Spaces are a nice idea, although I don’t like vertical tabs). But like the parent comment said, it’s unnecessarily bloated.

Re: Opera becomes the first major browser with built-in access to local AI models

#30

Post by stoev » Wed, Apr 03, 2024, 1:50 PM UTC

I actually just submitted something quite relevant - a side project we soft-launched today that uses LLMs to analyse and group browser tabs across various browsers and devices. It turns out that it’s super demanding for today’s models, but with some optimisations and experimentation, we made it work pretty well.

Running local LLMs might be a heavy order currently to get the job done, but in the near future I don't see a reason why it couldn't be done and it would definitely be quite helpful to people who have either many tabs open or a lot of bookmarks they want to organise.

Ironically, Opera's extension shop is dead and no one reviews new submissions, but for anyone else who is interested in learning more about how we use LLMs to improve the browsing experience or even give the product a shot, here is a link:

https://tabcrunch.com/technical_deep_dive.html