It's almost the end of the year and Microsoft has today published some stats about the usage of its Edge browser globally in the year 2023. Although Edge isn't exactly the most popular browser right now, the Redmond tech firm regularly adds new features to it in order to entice new customers. Now, Microsoft has shared some statistics that may attract more users to try out its web browser.

In a blog post, Microsoft has highlighted that Edge customers have engaged in over 1.9 billion Copilot chats. This is encouraging since the tech giant is looking to integrate its AI copilot software in almost all aspects of your online life. In the same vein, Microsoft has also revealed that 1.8 billion AI-generated images have been created through Edge; this is an area that the company has been regularly making advancements in. Security is at the forefront for Microsoft's browser too. 127 million phishing attacks were blocked by Edge during 2023, which equates to stopping four phishing attacks every second on average.

Edge offered monetary benefits for its customers too. Microsoft has boasted that U.S. users leveraging Edge saved $400 on average, while the global market saved a whopping $4 billion overall. Similarly, gamers earned 148 million in reward points by using the browser; for context, this is enough to pay for 1,000 years of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. That said, it is important to note that daily search reward points were recently nerfed in Edge too. Talking more about gaming, Microsoft also highlighted that 4.7 billion minutes of casual games were played in Edge since the launch of this particular section and that a significant number of people played the browser's surf game daily too.

All in all, Microsoft says that this was a very good year for Edge as it began to position the software as an AI-powered web browser. It hasn't revealed what's next for Edge, but it's almost a given that there will be an even greater focus on AI in 2024.