The "3Q War" is on again: move the light office platform into the browser

The Browser Race Targeted by AI

As the gateway to the internet, the browser race has become relatively stable after several rounds of fierce competition, with Edge and Chrome dominating the global browser market. Meanwhile, the domestic browser market is characterized by a fragmented landscape with Tencent, 360, Baidu, Sogou, and others vying for market share. However, with the rise of large AI models and the implementation of generative AI technology, the "calm" browser market is beginning to experience new changes.

Microsoft took the lead in igniting the battle. After gaining significant attention with the new Bing, Microsoft struck while the iron was hot, continuing to launch Azure OpenAI, which integrates multiple AI models, Microsoft 365 Copilot that embeds AI into office software, and Loop, a software akin to Notion.

Under the almost "frenzied" stacking of features, Microsoft Edge has become increasingly bloated. In the "Tools" pane of the sidebar, Microsoft has added a calculator, unit converter, and translation tool to the browser. The entire sidebar, in addition to regular features like tools, also defaults to including shopping, gaming, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Drop, and other Microsoft-owned software. What's more, the sidebar even features tree planting (E-tree function) and exercise (Health & Wellness function).

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With so many features, Edge appears more like an operating system than a browser. Of course, Microsoft's approach cannot be deemed wrong, as more and more browser manufacturers are beginning to incorporate email management, note-taking, screenshot, and other functions into the browser, providing users with a more convenient comprehensive experience while achieving feature integration.

In comparison, Chrome and Safari have tried to maintain restraint in terms of functionality and design. For instance, Safari's pages allocate more space for users to browse content rather than showcasing a plethora of features. From a practical standpoint, this may be closer to the essence of a browser.

Similarly, the differentiated "AI + browser" approach is also present in the domestic browser market. The 360 AI browser has deeply integrated AI, while Tencent's QQ browser has quietly "embedded" an AI assistant. These two different integration methods will result in what kind of differences in end-user experience?Design Style: The Encounter of Extroversion and Introversion

In promoting the integration of browsers with AI, 360 has been somewhat "proactive". Its 360AI browser directly integrates AI search tools, AI assistants, AI writing, and 360 Smart Drawing features, allowing users to no longer frequently switch tools during the browsing process, thereby greatly improving work efficiency.

Upon entering the homepage of the 360AI browser, one can immediately see two sections: "AI Intelligent Reading" and "360AI Search". For first-time users, it thoughtfully indicates the location of the "AI Intelligent Assistant Entrance" at the top right corner of the browser. At the same time, on the left side of the 360AI browser, a toolbar is presented with a variety of quick functions such as AI Search, AI Selection, Knowledge Base, and AI Writing, making it convenient for users to select and activate.

There is a noticeable difference in the AI integration design between the 360AI browser and Tencent QQ browser. In comparison, although the Tencent QQ browser has integrated an "AI Assistant" supported by the Hunyuan large model, users can only see the "AI Assistant" icon in the plugin box at the top right corner of the browser. After clicking to activate, it will appear in the form of a sidebar on the right side of the QQ browser, occupying a quarter of the browser's area by default.

Upon removing the AI assistant in the 360AI browser, it is found that the AI assistant occupies more than one-third of the browser's area by default, which is convenient for users to interact with AI. However, it somewhat reduces the amount of information displayed in the browsing frame. Nevertheless, the AI assistant of the 360AI browser currently supports login authorization via QQ, WeChat, Weibo, Alipay, and mobile phone numbers, which is quite convenient to use.

In terms of functional positioning, the browser AI assistant mainly automatically organizes intelligent summaries, article context, and mind maps when users read web content, helping users to understand and remember the content efficiently. Translation and language processing are also basic skills of the browser AI assistant.

The author tried to open an article titled "The Latest Policy to Prevent Overweight and Obesity in Primary and Secondary School Students is Here". The AI assistant of the 360AI browser directly summarized the article under the "Introduction" function, while the AI assistant of the QQ browser requires users to click to confirm before reading and summarizing the web page content. There is obviously a certain difference in proactivity and operational logic between the two.In terms of summarizing web content, both browser AI assistants correctly identified the main content of the web page. However, the AI assistant of the 360 AI browser simply summarized the content of the article, while the AI assistant of Tencent QQ browser summarized the content into 7 points, making the overall structure clearer.

Beyond summarization, both AI assistants support multi-round dialogues. Regarding the content of the previous article, we asked both AI assistants, "What are the standard height and weight values for a fifth-grade elementary school boy?" This question involves content that is not in this brief, which means that both AI assistants need to search online and summarize in order to answer the question.

Both AI assistants successfully answered the question and provided guiding questions such as "If parents have special concerns or worries about their child's height or weight, how should they seek the help of a professional pediatrician or nutritionist?" and "What are the three prevention strategies proposed by the guidelines to prevent overweight and obesity in primary and secondary school students?" In terms of guiding the conversation, the AI assistant of the 360 AI browser appeared to be more comprehensive.

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One-stop light office experience

AI search that subverts the experience

If there is not much difference in the user experience of browser AI assistants, then the advantage of browsers integrated with AI search in one-stop light office experience is very obvious. After opening an article titled "Components that cannot be made in a few months, can 3D printing be done in 10 days? A new 'turning point' for recyclable rockets" on the "Yi Ling Society" Baidu platform of "Computer News," the 360 AI browser directly displays a toolbar composed of options such as original text, summary, mind map, key points, and generate PPT.

The author tried to click "generate PPT," and the 360 AI browser immediately analyzed the article and output an outline. Users can modify and confirm the outline before clicking "generate PPT."While the 360AI browser automatically generates PPTs, users can also customize the PPT templates and fonts according to their personal needs, and the "AI-generated animations" can also add a lot of color to the entire PPT.

The functions demonstrated by the 360AI browser are inherently applications of AI search, which have already become quite popular on applications like "Mita AI." Tencent's large model application "Tencent Yuanbao" AI search has also launched a deep search mode, which can provide more structured and richer answers from both depth and breadth, and can also generate content outlines, mind maps, and related person-event collations synchronously. However, it is a pity that this search function has not been directly integrated into the QQ browser, and compared with the platform integration of AI tools under the 360AI browser, the integration of AI tools under the QQ browser is a bit slower.

However, in terms of the interconnection of ecological accounts, the QQ browser is still quite good. By clicking on the file menu on the right side of the QQ browser, you can not only open the files in "Recently Opened" and "My Downloads," but you can also directly open WeChat/QQ/Enterprise Micro files, and the internal account connection is quite good. At the same time, users can also directly start "Tencent Documents" under the "Documents" interface to edit files, which has a good office tool attribute.

In comparison, the 360AI browser has built-in "AI writing" functions, which provide targeted functions for writing articles in various categories such as scientific research and learning, and official documents, and the functional design is more similar to applications like "Writing Cat AI," and there is a certain difference in positioning attributes compared to Tencent Documents.

Comment: The data moat of end-side AI applications

With the help of AI, the browser market, which has been calm for a long time, is starting a new "battle." Whether it is the QQ browser that quietly embeds AI assistants or the 360AI browser that focuses on AI platformization, it is more about building a moat for their respective ecosystems. Users want to experience seamless "one-stop" web browsing + office experience, which requires the interconnection of personal cloud account data, and this is also the key to the competition for discourse rights among various platforms.

In this competition, the protection of user data and privacy security issues have become the focus of attention for major platforms. With the continuous development of AI technology and the increasing attention of users to privacy protection, the browser market will usher in more intense competition. Whoever can take into account user experience and data security in this competition is likely to win more users' favor and stand out in this "battle."