AI assistants
Brave Leo privacy rating
AI assistant built into the Brave browser for chat, page summaries and writing help. Works without an account and can also use local or self-chosen models.
Summary
Brave Leo scores 61 out of 100 (grade C) on the AI assistants criteria. It meets 3 of 8 criteria: no training on your data, limited chat retention and no account needed. It partly meets open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales and runs locally. It does not meet independent audit. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act.
Score 61 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
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Partial
Open source Weight 3 of 3
Is all the source code needed to run the product public?
The browser code, including Leo, is open source under MPL-2.0. The Leo server is not.
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Partial
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
Privacy-preserving product and query analytics are on by default and can be turned off. No third-party analytics.
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Partial
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Leo has no ads and is funded by a Premium subscription, but Brave Ads can appear in the browser by default and can be turned off.
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No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
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Yes
No training on your data Weight 3 of 3
Are prompts, chats and files kept out of model training by default?
Conversations are not used for model training.
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Partial
Runs locally Weight 2 of 3
Can the assistant run on your own device or server, so prompts never leave it?
Bring Your Own Model can connect Leo to local models, but it uses Brave's hosted models by default.
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Yes
Limited chat retention Weight 2 of 3
Are chats deleted by default or on request, with no long-term server copy?
Prompts and responses are not stored on Brave's servers. History is stored locally on the device.
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Yes
No account needed Weight 1 of 3
Can it be used without an account or personal details?
No account or login is needed for the free version.