Berlin, 30 August 2021 – The Berlin-based AI company launches today Xayn WebBeta, a light web version of its private search and discovery browser which was launched in December 2020 as a mobile app. Xayn WebBeta brings the privacy-protecting search and its discovery feed now also to desktop users so that they can find and dive deeper into new information online.
The Xayn mobile app has already been downloaded more than 250,000 times worldwide. The team with 30% PhDs now transferred the essence of its mobile app to desktop focusing first on Chromium-based browsers (e.g., Chrome with 68,5% global market share) and Firefox (7,62% of global market share). To enjoy a private, ad-free browsing and searching experience on their desktop, users can simply go to the company’s website: search.xayn.com
“We started Xayn as a direct response to the false privacy vs. convenience dilemma and quickly proved that it’s possible to solve this trade-off so users are no longer losers. In fact, with each update, our fantastic team of engineers and designers demonstrates all over again how privacy, quality, and great UX go hand in hand,” said Leif-Nissen Lundbæk, Co-Founder and CEO of Xayn. “We didn’t want to copy what's already out there, but instead re-think it and create something new. With Xayn, you can find your favourite part of the Internet – either by actively searching the web or by browsing through the discovery feed that offers personalised content suggestions from the entire Internet. Either way, your privacy is always protected.”
Both versions of Xayn use Masked Federated Learning to protect users’ data privacy while still providing them with an individually tailored web experience. They are created with the same code base in Flutter, a developing framework that's designed to function both on mobile and web. The team transferred the AI to work directly in the respective browsers with high speed via WebAssembly so that all personal data stays privately within the browsers. Therefore, the light web version functions similar to the app and also protects users’ data privacy by leaving all personal data on the devices while training the AI models locally. For first time users, the AI models get downloaded to the respective users’ browsers.
The core features of Xayn WebBeta include:
“In creating Xayn’s web version, we have taken all the elements that made the app great and adapted them to the desktop browser window,” said Julia Hintz, Head of Design at Xayn. “The privacy-protecting algorithms, the intuitive design, and the smooth animations have found their way into the web version. Users can switch effortless between mobile and desktop without leaving their familiar environment. This is key for the seamless, deep interaction experience that makes Xayn special.”
To stress the importance of ethical and transparent AI, the company that started as a research project at The University of Oxford and Imperial College London open-sourced the search algorithmics of the Xayn AI. Following its 10 million EURO Series A investment round and the growth of its C-Suite, the company continues product development and expands into the Asian market. Xayn also plans to widen the range of its privacy-first discovery offerings: In the future, users will be able to synchronize Xayn across multiple devices in a privacy-protecting way so that they can transfer the AI’s learnings between their mobile and desktop versions seamlessly without Xayn seeing any of the user data.
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About Xayn
Xayn is the private search and discovery browser for the internet. The fusion of a search engine, a discovery feed and a mobile browser focuses on privacy, personalisation and intuitive design. Using the latest AI technology made in Europe, the company of the same name ushers in a new generation of user-friendly privacy tech.
The AI company started as a research project at The University of Oxford and Imperial College London by Leif-Nissen Lundbæk (PhD) and Professor Michael Huth. Together with Felix Hahmann, they founded the tech company in 2017. To this day, that academic vision remains with a workforce comprised of around 30% PhDs. The company’s open-source framework for federated analytics and learning, XayNet, is the basis of the discovery browser Xayn. The Berlin-based company has received investment funding of 19.5 million EURO from Global Brain Corporation, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, Earlybird as well as Dominik Schiener. Xayn has worked with corporations such as Porsche, Daimler, Deutsche Bahn, and Siemens.
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