Brave, the Web browser and search startup, has laid off 27 employees across departments, TechCrunch has learned. The company confirmed the layoffs but did not comment on the headcount remaining nor a reason for the layoffs. PitchBook, however, estimates the firm counts about 191 employees, meaning that would be cut by 14%.

This is a new round of redundancies that are coming 10 months after the firm released 9% of its employees in October last year. It was attributed then as "cost management within this challenging economic environment" by Brave.

Initially working to position itself as a "blockchain browser" and introducing multiple crypto-related features, Brave in recent months has doubled down on AI with its string of product launches. The firm rolled out Leo, an AI assistant, to desktop, Android, iPad, and iPhone in an anticipated release cycle.

Last month, the company also introduced integration of its own search results with its Leo chatbot. For example, users can ask the chatbot whether the score of a sports match is as bad as the article claims or get more context about an article they are reading without necessarily navigating to a search page. The company is selling a Leo Premium subscription for $14.99 a month to get better models and higher limit rates.

This month, Brave began to let all its users connect their models in order to avail themselves of their use in the browser, after months of testing the feature.

Brave hadn't described the cost of developing and running these AI-centric features, and it is unclear if such expenses have been associated with this round of layoffs.