Brave Search has just launched a new AI-powered chat mode that allows users to ask follow-up questions based on their original search queries. This feature builds on Brave’s “Answer with AI” summaries, which were introduced earlier this year to provide quick, easy-to-read answers at the top of search results. Now, these summaries come with an interactive chat bar, enabling users to dig deeper into a topic without needing to rephrase or start a new search.

This move sets Brave apart from Google, the world’s leading search engine. While Google offers “AI Overviews” that provide similar instant responses, it doesn’t allow users to ask follow-up questions directly based on their initial query. With Brave's new feature, users can now stay on a single thread, refining and exploring their search with added ease.

For example, if you search for “Christopher Nolan films” on Brave, an AI-generated summary appears with an introduction to Nolan’s work and a list of notable films. Now, just below this summary, a chat prompt titled “Ask a follow-up question” appears, allowing you to dive deeper. You could, for instance, follow up with “Which actors appear most in his films?” and receive a list of frequently featured actors in Nolan’s movies.

Once a follow-up question is asked, the experience shifts seamlessly into a conversational mode where Brave’s AI provides real-time responses, with sources included to validate each answer. This approach combines the strengths of traditional search—like fetching images, links, and general information—with the context-aware flexibility of AI chat.

Brave has emphasized that this tool prioritizes privacy, assuring users that it doesn’t store their queries or track them in any way. This enhanced privacy feature aligns with Brave’s broader mission of creating a secure browsing experience.

The new feature is backed by a blend of open and proprietary large language models (LLMs), enabling a balance between search precision and the exploratory power of conversational AI. Brave Search currently serves over 36 million queries daily, with its “Answer with AI” tool generating around 11 million responses per day, reflecting a significant demand for integrated AI experiences.