Microsoft Edge is undergoing a significant transformation that prioritizes artificial intelligence at the expense of user autonomy. The latest update to the browser, announced alongside rolling improvements to mobile and desktop versions, replaces the conventional browser history with an AI-powered feature called “Journeys.” This shift is part of Microsoft’s broader push to integrate its Copilot assistant into every corner of the browsing experience, but critics argue it reduces productivity and removes essential control from users.
What Are Journeys?
Instead of showing a chronological list of visited websites with links, Edge’s new tab page now offers “Journeys” — AI-generated summaries of recent browsing sessions. For example, if you were researching cross-stitch patterns, Edge might present a Copilot-generated summary of “the most beginner-friendly projects” without providing direct links to the pages you actually visited. The user is then prompted to interact further with Copilot rather than navigate directly to the source material.
Microsoft claims Journeys is designed to help users “pick up where they left off,” but the implementation strips away the fundamental utility of browser history: quick, direct access to specific URLs. Instead, users must engage with an AI intermediary that may not surface the exact information they need. This approach mirrors what Google has been doing with its own AI overviews and search summaries, but Microsoft takes it a step further by actively replacing a core browser feature rather than supplementing it.
The End of Collections
Compounding the frustration is Microsoft’s decision to discontinue the “Collections” feature, which allowed users to manually group and save tabs in a sidebar for later reference. Collections, introduced in 2019, was a straightforward tool that gave users control over their research workflow. Users could group pages by topic, add notes, and export them to other apps. Microsoft announced in January 2025 that Collections would be phased out later this year, effectively removing a beloved productivity feature in favor of AI-driven alternatives.
The loss of Collections is particularly significant for power users who relied on it to organize complex research projects or online shopping comparisons. While Microsoft positions Journeys as a replacement, the AI summaries lack the precision and user control that Collections offered. A user who wanted to revisit a specific product page or a particular article now must hope that Copilot surfaces it correctly — a gamble given AI’s well-documented tendency to hallucinate or omit critical details.
AI Brain and User Autonomy
The phrase “AI brain” has emerged to describe systems that offload cognitive tasks to artificial intelligence, making them perform more automatically but often at the cost of leading to poorer decision-making. With Edge’s new approach, the user no longer manages their own history; instead, Copilot acts as a gatekeeper that decides what information is relevant. This reduces the ability to quickly revisit a specific source, forcing users to rely on AI summaries that may be incomplete or inaccurate.
Microsoft emphasizes that Journeys is opt-in by default, meaning users must actively enable it. However, the default behavior of Edge’s new tab page now emphasizes AI summaries over traditional history lists. Users who disable Journeys still have access to the standard history via the traditional menu, but this setting can be difficult to find. The overall design shift suggests that Microsoft is nudging users toward AI-mediated browsing, regardless of their preferences.
Critics have long warned about the dangers of ceding too much control to AI. When a user can no longer directly access a page they visited, they are forced to spend time searching for it again, which undermines the efficiency that the feature is supposed to provide. The problem is compounded by the fact that AI summaries do not include hyperlinks to the source material, so users must manually re-find content. This is a step backward from the web’s original promise of direct access and navigational autonomy.
Comparison with Google Chrome
Google Chrome has long offered a searchable history that lets users type keywords to find previously viewed pages. This strikes a balance between organization and direct access. Microsoft’s Journeys, by contrast, opts for abstraction: instead of searching your own history, you ask Copilot to interpret it. This is similar to Google’s “Search Generative Experience,” which uses AI to summarize results rather than showing links. But in Chrome, the history feature remains untouched; users can still view a chronological list and search it manually. Microsoft’s decision to replace the standard history view with AI summaries is more invasive.
Both companies are racing to integrate generative AI into their browsers, but Microsoft appears to be more aggressive in replacing core functionalities. The company’s long-term strategy seems to be transforming Edge into an AI-first platform where Copilot manages nearly every task, from summarizing documents to managing history. While this could appeal to users who want automation, it alienates those who prefer to retain control over their browsing data and workflows.
Privacy and Data Concerns
Another dimension of this change is privacy. Browser history is personal data that many users prefer to manage themselves. When AI processes this data to create summaries, it raises questions about data retention, model training, and user consent. Microsoft has said that Copilot processes history locally in some cases, but the summaries may still be sent to cloud servers for better AI performance. Users who value privacy may find this unsettling, especially since the traditional history feature gave them complete control over their data.
Furthermore, the AI summaries could introduce errors. As AI models are known to misinterpret context or fabricate details, a user relying on a journey summary might act on incorrect information. This could be particularly harmful in contexts where precise sourcing matters, such as medical research, legal work, or financial decisions. Even in everyday browsing, the risk of misinformation undermines trust in the browser.
Broader Implications for Edge Users
Microsoft’s updates are not limited to history. The company also announced that Copilot Vision and Voice are arriving on mobile Edge, allowing users to interact with web pages via voice commands and AI vision — features that Google Lens has offered for years. While these capabilities can be useful, they further entrench AI in the browsing experience. The new quiz-generation tool and automated podcast summaries mimic Google’s offerings, making Edge a copycat rather than an innovator.
Perhaps the most telling detail in Microsoft’s announcement is the emphasis on “long-term memory” for Copilot — a technical term that refers to storing tokens or summaries across sessions. Yet the simplest solution to remembering visited pages is still just saving URLs in a list. Microsoft’s decision to convolute this basic function into an AI service reveals a company that is determined to push AI at all costs, even when it breaks existing workflows.
For now, Edge users can still access their full history by navigating to the history menu, but the default new tab experience is now dominated by AI. The move has drawn sharp criticism from tech commentators and power users, who see it as yet another example of Microsoft prioritizing AI hype over user needs. As the browser wars continue, it remains to be seen whether users will embrace this AI-first approach or flee to alternatives that offer more control.
The trend is clear: Microsoft wants Copilot to be the center of the browser, handling tasks that users once managed themselves. While some may appreciate the convenience, the loss of autonomy is a high price to pay. The ability to directly access a page you visited is a fundamental element of the web; replacing it with AI summaries risks making the browser less useful, not more.
Source: PCWorld News