With improved support for WebAssembly (Wasm) and the massive capacity of modern Edge Runtimes (like Vercel and Cloudflare), the browser is now a legitimate compute platform.
AI Inference in the Browser
Thanks to advancements like ONNX Runtime and specialized Wasm builds, we can run large language models (LLMs) and diffusion models directly in the browser.
- Privacy First: Data never leaves the user's device.
- Zero Latency: No round-trip to an API server.
- Offline Capable: Works without an internet connection.
Edge First Architecture
Traditional server applications are giving way to globally distributed functions. Your API no longer lives in "us-east-1." It lives everywhere.
- Request hits nearest edge node.
- Function executes instantly (cold starts < 50ms).
- Data reads from a specialized edge-replicated database.
This architecture is not just fast; it's resilient.
Why Wasm Matters Now
Browser support is universal. Tools like Rust and Zig compile to highly optimized Wasm binaries. Whether it's video processing (FFmpeg.wasm) or complex data analysis (Polars), JavaScript is no longer the bottleneck for heavy lifting.
The line between "web app" and "native app" has completely vanished.