Yandex Browser Brings More AI Smarts To MacOS

Online artificial intelligence (AI) based service provider Yandex has tweaked its Browser for macOS software to bring improved security and content recommendation features.

Yandex Browser for macOS now sports a fresh users interface and a turbo mode to speed up browsing, as well as enhanced AI features including advert blocking.

AI injection

While macOS has its own native browser Safari, the Yandex browser offers AI smarts that others supported by macOS are found wanting. The software smart offer the ability to learn what a user is interacting with and their browsing habits and surface information relevant to their activities.

The AI algorithms in Browser for macOS also trawl through millions of safe and dangerous websites to learn to spot the malicious ones from the good sites and help better alert users when they point the browser to a dodgy website.

The new version of the browser gains a function called Protect, which Alongside providing secure connections and data encryption, ensures secure connectivity, data encryption and safeguards against malware. Activated through clicking on a button in the browser Protect enables users to view the security status of the websites they have visited and disable any unwanted notifications.

Furthermore, Protect can be used to safely access public Wi-Fi networks and websites outside of a protected network, likely a boon for people who have to often carry out work on the move and in the field.

Yandex has also added Zen to the browser, an AI-powered “infinite content recommendation feed” which displays personally tailored information, such as articles, videos, images, to the user within the browser, which Yandex claims helps improve the browsing experience.

The AI powered browser is yet another indication of how smart software, agents and bots are infiltrating everyday software and devices to take care of arduous tasks and improve the expreinces of people’s everyday computing and tech use.

According to Dmitry Timko, head of Yandex Browser, the rise of such AIs is going to increase as the digital world gets ever more complicated and fraught with dangers.

“With over 5.8 million cases of online fraud over the past year (ONS), the need for secure browsing and data sharing online is reaching mission critical,” he said.

“By incorporating AI into the browser, we can not only provide a heightened user experience but also help make the internet as safe a place for users as possible. We believe that AI marks a huge step forward in the fight against personal data theft as well as creating a browsing experience that is beneficial to the individual user.”

The rise of AI, however, does spell disruption to traditional business and work practices, something Fujitsu’s CTO Dr Joseph Reger reckons the tech industry needs to take responsibility for.

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