These browsers are rapidly evolving and strengthening and have the potential to alter how people use the internet. Instead of spending time clicking on countless links to compare purchases while shopping, an AI browser can summarize the key features of products and organize them in an easy-to-read table in a matter of minutes.
Just as we recommend anyone do when evaluating an AI tool, we’ve examined potential security risks. These AI browsers have the ability to read through and summarize emails in your inbox, requiring users to grant the AI agent access to personal and potentially sensitive information. A user can watch the AI agent open their inbox, click on emails, and take screenshots to generate a comprehensive summary.
From a personal standpoint, that level of access should give anyone pause. Most of us store a lot more in our email than we realize: bank statements, password resets, family conversations, travel confirmations, receipts, medical appointments. Handing all of that over to an AI agent, even temporarily, increases the amount of data a system has to protect. And the more systems that can see your information, the greater the chance something could go wrong or be misused.
From a business perspective, the risks grow even more serious. Employee inboxes often contain confidential client data, contracts, onboarding documents, HR communications, financial information, and internal strategy discussions. Allowing an AI tool to read those messages may introduce compliance concerns or violate vendor, client, or regulatory requirements.
While these browsers are powerful, the technology isn’t yet at a point where it makes sense to hand off every routine search. In many cases, it’s still faster to search for something yourself than to wait for an AI agent to navigate multiple sites, verify details, and complete the action. The convenience is promising, but not fully there yet.
That said, it will be fascinating to watch how this technology evolves. As AI browsers become smarter, more secure, and better at understanding what we actually want, they’re likely to change how people search for information online. Instead of opening dozens of tabs, we may eventually rely on AI to gather, compare, and summarize everything for us.
We’re not quite there today, but the shift is coming, and it’s going to reshape how we all interact with the internet, both at home and at work.