AideAIComputer Use or Browser Automation?
AideAI has two ways to "go look at something" that is not already in the chat.
They are easy to mash together in a sentence and terrible to mash together in product.
Computer Use acts on Mac apps that are already running — Slack, Finder, Mail, Notes, Spotify — after you approve each app.
Browser Automation drives AideAI's own browser: open a URL, read the page, click in that browser. It does not attach to the Chrome window you were shopping in.
If you remember only one line: desktop app you already use → Computer Use. Web page that is not that app → Browser Automation.
The Computer Use overview is Use the Mac Apps You Already Have Open. Setup, permissions, and the Write toggle are Turn On Computer Use in AideAI. Browser-side research is Too Many Tabs? Use AideAI to Work With What You're Already Reading and Browser Automation in AideAI.
Pick by where the work already is
| You have… | Use |
|---|---|
| Slack desktop open, and you want a DM or channel | Computer Use |
| A Canvas / Docs / random article URL | Browser Automation |
| A PDF sitting in Finder | Computer Use (Finder), or attach the file |
| A site that only works in your logged-in Chrome | Neither pretends to be your Chrome. Automation uses AideAI's browser; you may need to sign in there. |
| "What's on my screen right now?" | Screen question flow, not Computer Use. See Ask AI About Your Screen Without Oversharing. |
Slack-in-the-browser is the classic wrong turn. If Slack is approved for Computer Use, AideAI should jump in the desktop app, not open slack.com. The student-shaped walkthrough is Ask AideAI What Someone Wrote in Slack.
Why they are not the same permission
Browser Automation is a sandbox with a door: a browser AideAI started, hosts you allow or deny, pages you can see in that window.
Computer Use is a key to your apps. That is why Write is a switch in Apps, not a sentence in chat. That is why confirmations name the app and the action. That is why the Mac App Store build does not ship it.
Mixing the two in your head leads to bad requests:
- "Just log into my Slack on the web" — no. Use the desktop app you already trust.
- "Click the third thing in my real Chrome" — Browser Automation is not your daily browser.
- "You have Screen Recording, so you can drive everything" — Screen Recording for Computer Use is framed as one approved window, not a license to puppet the Dock.
Shell Commands is a third door: diagnostics in Terminal, with its own confirmations. That post is Shell Commands in AideAI. Do not use Computer Use as a fuzzy substitute for a git status.
Trust, in the order students actually worry
Who turned it on? You did, in Apps. Computer Use is off until then. A remote kill switch can keep it off even if the UI toggle is there.
Which apps? Only the ones on the list. Adding Slack does not add Mail.
Read vs Write? Looking at a window is not the same as jumping, clicking, or sending. Write is opt-in per app.
What leaves the Mac? Window titles and UI text for apps you granted, plus the assistant's summary in chat. Secure fields stay existence-only. The action log is not a screenshot roll. Full desktop pixels are not the product.
Can I stop it? Yes — Computer Use card, AideAI menu. If you walked away mid-jump, Stop is the expected move.
None of this makes Computer Use "safe for a shared lab iMac with everyone logged into everything." It makes it inspectable on a machine you own.
A practical default
Leave Browser Automation on if you already use it for research.
Add Computer Use later, for one app you actually live in. Slack is the usual first candidate on a group project. Finder is the usual first candidate if your life is PDFs.
If the assistant ever opens a website because a Mac app failed, treat that as a miss — especially for Slack. The product is supposed to retry the desktop path, not fall back to the public web.
Native Mac is the reason both features can exist without being another tab. That argument is Why a Native Mac App Feels Better Than Another Browser Tab. Agent Desk is where you keep the chat while either tool runs: Meet Agent Desk.
Download the DMG, open Apps, and enable only the door you need for the next assignment.