Swamped by AI-generated submissions, Microsoft turns to automated vetting for Edge extensions

Creating a browser extension has become easier than ever. For the most part, you just need to describe exactly what you want, and the AI will do the rest. Heck, even Safari 27 now lets you create extensions in the browser itself.

As expected, these vibe-coded extensions are hitting online stores like Chrome’s and Edge’s, and Microsoft is now feeling the pressure. The Add-ons store is seeing a massive influx of submissions, resulting in a backlog that’s become a headache.

Microsoft admitted as much in a new developer update, noting that “submission volumes have continued to increase, and our review pipeline has experienced additional strain” leading to longer waits for developers trying to push simple bug fixes.

Instead of letting the backlog pile up, the company has chosen to turn to automated vetting for repeatable validation checks. This takes the human out of the loop and speeds up the approval pipeline.

That said, it doesn’t mean human reviewers are going away. Quite the opposite, in fact, this process will free up time for human reviewers to focus on more complex cases that “benefit from human judgment,” according to Microsoft. 

Some might still question whether this is the right approach. After all, we’re seeing extensions being exposed left and right for carrying malicious code and stealing user data. So it’s never been more important to review every single line of code in a browser extension before it’s released in the wild.

When you have thousands of low-effort, AI-generated tools flooding the marketplace, counting on automated checks to catch clever bad actors or quiet malicious updates is a risky bet.

Microsoft, however, insists this shift will not lower its standards or let dangerous code slip through. So only time will tell if this process can keep extensions free from shady code while also keeping developers happy.

The company is also refreshing its Featured badges every fifteen days to highlight add-ons that keep their quality high.

All of this arrives while Edge is already in the middle of dropping older Manifest V2 extensions in favor of the newer Manifest V3 standard.

It’s an interesting time for extension creators and users out there.

We stand out from the tech-media crowd because we break news stories; we mainly bring you stuff that you won’t find anywhere in the mainstream tech media. Our stories have been picked up by some of the world’s most popular websites and media outlets—more info is available here.