Microsoft is launching new APIs for Edge, its web browser, to let developers incorporate AI functionality into web apps using models built into Edge.
Unveiled at Build 2025, the AI APIs mirror some of the functionality in Google Chrome, which also offers “built-in AI” that developers can tap to power their web applications. Microsoft’s move suggests that it’s keen to offer a competitor — one that might sway devs to its side.
Edge’s new APIs give websites and Edge browser extensions access to Phi 4 mini, an AI model that Microsoft released in late February. Around 3.8 billion parameters in size, Phi 4 mini excels at math problems, Microsoft says, thanks to a training data set that includes a mix of human-crafted and synthetic data (i.e. data generated by AI models).
Parameters roughly correspond to a model’s problem-solving skills, and models with more parameters generally perform better than those with fewer parameters. Small models have the advantage of being more efficient, however, particularly on less powerful hardware like that found in laptops and mobile devices.
Edge is also gaining other AI APIs, including a set of writing assistance APIs for generating, summarizing, and editing text. In a few months, Microsoft plans to release a translator API to serve AI-powered language translations via Edge, the company says.
“These experimental APIs are intended as potential web standards and will work across platforms, browsers, and with other AI models,” writes Microsoft in a press release provided to TechCrunch. “For developers dealing with sensitive data or working in regulated industries, these APIs offer the privacy and security of on-device processing, eliminating the need to send data to external cloud services.”
All of the new AI APIs are available in the Edge Canary and Dev channels.
In related news, Microsoft is bringing a translation tool for PDFs to Edge. With support for over 70 languages, the tool lets users open a PDF in Edge, click the “Translate” icon in the Edge address bar, and create a new doc translated into the language of their choice.
PDF translation will be generally available next month, and Canary users can try it starting today.
Kyle Wiggers is TechCrunch’s AI Editor. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Manhattan with his partner, a music therapist.
