Microsoft is launching new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for its web browser, Edge. The move aims to give developers the tools to incorporate AI functionality into their web applications, rivaling Google Chrome’s “built-in AI” capabilities.
The AI APIs mirror some of the functionality in Google Chrome and offer access to Phi 4 mini, an AI model with around 3.8 billion parameters. This model excels at math problems and is trained on a mix of human-crafted and synthetic data. The Edge browser extensions will also gain access to these APIs.
In addition to math support, the new APIs include writing assistance tools for generating, summarizing, and editing text. Microsoft plans to release a translator API in a few months, allowing users to translate AI-powered language translations via Edge.
The AI APIs are available in the Edge Canary and Dev channels, ensuring they can be tested by developers. The move is seen as an effort by Microsoft to compete with Google Chrome’s AI offerings and provide on-device processing for sensitive data.
Microsoft also announced a translation tool for PDFs, which will support over 70 languages. Users can try this feature starting today in the Canary channel, with full availability next month.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/19/devs-can-now-tap-microsoft-edge-to-power-ai-web-apps