Brave Browser 1.60 launches with Leo AI and security improvements
Brave Browser 1.60 is now available. The latest version of the Chromium-based web browser introduces Brave Software's Leo AI to all desktop users. It is not the only change though, as users who upgrade will also benefit from security improvements and some other changes.
Brave 1.60 is available already and users should receive it through the automatic updating feature. Those who can't wait to get their hands on the new browser version may select Menu > Help > About Brave or load brave://settings/help in the address bar directly to download the latest update immediately. The page lists the current version as well.
Leo is here, but not for everyone (yet)
The main new feature of Brave 1.60 is Leo. It is an AI that Brave tested for some time in Nightly and development builds of Brave.
Now, Leo is being rolled out to the entire desktop population. Only 20% of all users get a chance to use Leo immediately, the remaining 80% will have to wait a couple of days before they may access the feature as well.
Brave users may notice a new Leo icon in the address bar and also in the Brave Sidebar once Leo is enabled on their system.
Brave Leo is a free service at its core. With the introduction of Leo, Brave Software is also introducing Brave Leo Premium. One of the main advantages of the paid upgrade is that users do get access to Claude Instant, another AI language model.
Brave Software explains that Leo may help users "with all sorts of tasks". The company lists the AI's ability to create "real-time summaries of webpages and videos", answer questions or generate new content as features. Brave Leo can also translate webpages, analyze them, rewrite content and do more.
Brave Software promises that Leo can help users who are "looking for information, trying to solve a problem, or creating content".
Leo follows the same privacy principles as Brave. According to Brave Software, "chats with Leo are private, anonymous, and secure". Chats are not recorded and not used for model training. Also, there is no account or login requirement to start using Leo.
The free version of Leo is based on Meta's Llama 2 language model. The premium version, available for $15 per month, adds Anthropic's Claude Instant as a language model.
Brave Software promises that Premium users will gain access to additional language models in the future. Also, Premium users benefit from "higher rate limits, higher-quality conversations, priority queuing during periods of peak usage, and early access to new features and improvements".
Brave Leo and privacy
Brave Software highlights some of the privacy techniques and protections that it has implemented for Leo specifically.
All Leo requests use a reverse proxy to ensure that requests and user IP addresses can't be linked. Since Leo does not require a login, the IP address would be one of the main identifying factors. Conversations with Leo are not persistent either. Leo's responses are discarded immediately according to Brave and not used for model training.
Leo Premium users get "unlinkable tokens" that validate their subscriptions. These tokens provide access to premium content without giving Brave Software the ability to link purchase details to usage of the product.
Additional information about Leo is available here.
Brave 1.60: quick overview of other changes
The official release notes list a number of other changes and improvements. Notable are fixes for Tor tab and WebTorrent redirect issues and the moving of two Settings pages.
New Tab page configurations are now located under brave://settings/getStarted and Social Blocking is available under brave://settings/shields.
The Brave VPN services continue to be installed on user devices, even if Brave users don't use the VPN. You can check this guide on removing the VPN button from Brave. While it won't address the service installation issue on Windows, it does remove an icon from the toolbar that you may not use.
Brave Software promised to change the behavior of installing the VPN services on Windows after we broke the news.
Now You: have you tried Brave recently or Leo?
For those of you that do not care to use Leo, one can turn it off in the settings menu. For those that tweak their browsers, one can go to brave://flags and disable a flag called Brave Chat Al.
the enshitification is in full effect
It’s hilarious that you can buy nothing from them with BAT (or any other crypto). Brave themselves prefer payment via Stripe.
It seems like you’re referring to an update for the Brave web browser. As of my last update in January 2022, I don’t have specific information on version 1.60 of the Brave browser or its features, as my knowledge is not current beyond that point. However, it’s common for software applications, including web browsers, to receive updates that introduce new features, improvements, and enhancements to security.
Brave browser is known for its privacy-focused features, such as built-in ad-blocking, tracking prevention, and the ability to earn cryptocurrency rewards for viewing privacy-respecting ads. It’s possible that version 1.60 brought additional improvements to these areas or introduced new features like the integration of Leo AI, as you mentioned.
For the most accurate and detailed information about the Brave browser version 1.60 and its specific updates, I recommend visiting the official Brave website or checking their official release notes and announcements on platforms like GitHub or community forums.
Also @Ghacks, if you are going to mention the non issue of VPN and just people want to make drama out of it.
You can at least check Brave github for the information, in fact, today there was an update about it.
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/33726
The issue was closed to normal people because people couldn’t stick to VPN discussion. They are working on it, and they might have something ‘soon’ so people stop complaining about it. Again admin rights = you give browser permission to install any service, updater, VPN, or any other.
But adding VPN as service from a component like they do with Tor and IPFS which don’t need admin rights, is a different story.
Do people want the old VPN terrible experience of using OS APIs for the VPN, or do they want Wireguard which offers way more? They are implementing Wireguard for MacOS and Linux version will come later too.
All changes as mentioned by bsclifton, are reviewed and check for security issues, also people can report things if they find security risks or something.
Again, if anyone doesn’t want VPN or Updater or any service installed = don’t install Brave or Chrome or Edge with admin rights.
I also hate the auto-installed VPN and thus uninstalled Brave. GB.
how would i do this on arch linux. i usually would download it on the aur.
@Sm_Rdm_Guy there is NO way to disable the services… so it is obvious if you used CMD or something nonsense to delete the services they will be back, because that’s what installers do, and that’s what Brave will do when you are giving it admin rights.
Do you even understand admin rights = services? there is no other way an installer can install services on Windows.
The services are still set to manual, and they are not running unless you run the VPN anyway, so the whole drama is ridiculous.
You can easily install Brave without admin rights, which has been said forever, like not wanting to install Edge or Chrome or Brave update services, you just don’t install them ‘for all users’ you install them ‘per user’.
If you are going to keep your Brave with admin rights, it is OBVIOUS the services will get reinstalled… why aren’t you just switching to a per-user installation instead of complaining over and over again?
They are correctly working on installing the services ‘on demand’ but obviously it is not as easy as double click an exe and done, and it might not be available for ‘next update’ because Chromium is releasing security updates every week or so, so a new update which is going to be minor either with a bug fix or a Chromium update will reinstall the services.
I am sorry but this is 2+2=4 and people making drama about it doesn’t make sense. The updater runs like 24/7 and I don’t see anyone complaining “it GetS ReInsTallEd” because it is OBVIOUS that’s what will happen whenever you the browser admin rights.
Do you even share your computer with other users? why are you installing for ALL users = admin rights? Browsers should be installed per-user 99% of the time.
This is not a privacy issue or security issue, in fact, VPN service is to make sure they are not DNS leaks because of Windows, so the services are necessary for full protection. In fact, the per-user installation of Brave doesn’t have any way to stop the DNS leak, which is a more serious stuff but because of people like you, ‘installing services on demand for complainers’ will get more attention than actually fixing the possible DNS leaks when a per-user installation of Brave runs VPN, which is a privacy and security risk unlike your ‘issue’ which is your an annoyance and a really ridiculous one since services are set to manual and don’t run unless you use VPN.
These services has also been available for months and no Nightly user raised the concern, why didn’t you raise the concern? because nobody cared until it hit Stable complainers land, where they don’t use Nightly to test features, and then if some bug hits Stable, especially in Mac or Linux, they complain, but they are still not willing to help development by giving QUALITY feedback, not “please give my download bar at the bottom back” (which is something Chromium removed) useless feedback.
Are you feeling any better now???
I already have a VPN service, so I don’t need Brave to add another one! And I don’t need their VPN to conflict with the one I’m using!
So you can keep your two-bit moralizing to yourself!
Updated yesterday, and the services are back in manual mode, despite having been deactivated after the previous browser update.
Before considering uninstalling it, I’ll see after the next update. I really don’t like this approach, which I feel breaks a certain bond of trust.
if you use brave search go to settings and uncheck send anonymous data. in like 30 mins close and go back. maybe its because i used to use brave search without brave browser but without fail it will always recheck only that setting back. all my other custom options were left alone.
everyones favorite and referenced browser comparison site
https://privacytests.org/
is owned and operated by a brave employee. it wasnt even disclosed up until more recently. makes it not surprising the testing and settings used for all testing favor a certain browser
its little shady stuff like this… kinda off putting for me