- Microsoft Edge has a new intermediary feature hidden in tests
- ‘Journeys’ uses your navigation activity to produce “useful summaries” supplied in AI “
- This could be a very practical touch – the catches are that it may require a COPILOT PRO subscription and certain concerns of intimacy are attached
Microsoft has another planned AI functionality for its Edge web browser – or at least that seems to be the case – but there is something of a catch here.
Windows has noticed the new features, called “Journeys”, in Testing with Edge, where it is currently hidden in the last Canari construction of the browser. You must define a flag to activate it, but even then, the functionality does not work yet.
All you can see is the option to activate travel in the interface, which lives in the “AI innovations” panel in Edge’s settings, and the accompanying text that explains what travel is.
We are told that trips use AI to transform your navigation activity, including the content of web pages, into “useful summaries” to allow you to easily review the previous work or take up the tasks that you may have done before in the edge.
Let’s go back to the aforementioned socket with this new AI tip for Edge, that is to say that it will not be free. At least if it is implemented as the interface displays in the tests, because alongside the cursor to activate it, it is a “upgrade to Pro” button.
In other words, this functionality seems only available for those who subscribe to Copilot Pro (at a price of $ 20 per month currently).
Of course, you would not pay these $ 20 only for access to travel, but a whole bunch of other things provided in the Copilot Pro package. However, the fact remains that it is not something that your average on -board user will benefit – unless Microsoft changes their minds on the positioning of the function by the release.
Analysis: how travel can work – and certain confidentiality problems
Of course, Microsoft may never make this concept as part of Copilot Pro, or in any other form. It is still a very early work in tests. However, the company is obviously eager to push hard AI in Edge (and more broadly, Windows 11), so I would bet that it is a fairly likely development for the future.
As for the way it could work, we do not get many clues, although the name “travel” suggests that there will be various activity wires preserved by the edge, probably organized by the AI of what should be useful.
This looks like a potentially useful feature, although everything that involves monitoring your navigation activity, and specifically by diving into the content of the web pages you visit, is likely to encourage cold sweats for the concern for privacy – especially after the entire continuous recall.
That said, in the case of travel, the presentation text revealed in the tests also contains the assurance that “your data is stored safely on your device and is never used for training and advertising on AI”. I suppose that means that the relevant data will be used locally by Edge, and not sent to the cloud, now theoretically the confidentiality of your navigation history – although the Cloud is not explicitly excluded as such. Thus, concerns remain at this stage (certainly early) of the game.
Microsoft will undoubtedly explain more when – or rather, if – the company officially makes trips part of the tip. As the latter points out, Edge has an integrated AI model (Phi-4-Mini) which could be used to manage the necessary treatment locally, on the device, remaining out of the cloud (and by operating the functionality also snapply)-so it could well be the plan.
If it turns out to be a vehicle to help drive Copilot Pro subscriptions, however, this can be limited anyway.
