Skip YouTube ads and creator sponsor reads, and block ads & trackers across the web. A calm, capable sensei that handles the noise so you don't have to.
What it does
Start with web-wide ad and tracker blocking — then add the ads filter lists can't reach: the ones sites serve from their own domains, including YouTube's in-stream video ads.
Filter-list ad & tracker blocking on every site, with cookie-notice, popup, social, and URL-tracking lists — pick a Balanced or Max level at install, pause any site from the popup.
The ads sites serve themselves, which filter lists miss — sponsored pins, promoted products, feed ads, and YouTube's in-stream video ads. Hidden or removed automatically.
On YouTube it also clicks “Skip” the instant it appears and uses AI to skip creator sponsor and self-promo reads — pre-roll, mid-roll, overlays, and the anti-ad-blocker wall.
The moat
Crowdsourced ad-block databases can't see a creator's sponsor read or an ad a filter list never learned. Ad Sensei uses AI — free on-device by default, or your own key — to handle exactly those.
Understands the video's actual content to find paid reads — precision-first, so it never cuts real content.
When YouTube changes its layout and breaks skipping, the AI re-finds the button and caches the fix. No update needed.
Catches ads the filter lists miss on a site, learns them once, and hides them on every return visit.
Hides annoyance popups but keeps logins and consent dialogs — and clicks “reject all” on cookie prompts for you.
By design
No accounts, no tracking profile. Blocking and analysis run in your browser, not on a server. Optional diagnostics report the domain where ad detection went wrong so we can fix it — one click turns them off, and Local-only mode silences every network call.
All blocking, all analysis, all your settings live in your browser. Nothing you watch, type, or read is uploaded — and if our server vanished, blocking would keep working.
On-device AI needs no key and no card. Bring a free Gemini or Groq key for extra speed — or run fully local with Ollama.
Built-in Chrome AI, Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, local Ollama, your OpenClaw, Claude, or OpenAI — with automatic fallback to on-device if a key hits its limit.
And more
The small stuff that makes an ad blocker feel invisible — built in, not bolted on.
If YouTube throws its ad-blocker wall, Ad Sensei backs off, clears the right cookies, and gets playback going again.
Filter lists refresh themselves between releases — verified, data-only updates, no waiting on a new version.
Pause everything on one site, or tune popup, cookie, and social blocking site-by-site from the popup.
The skip engine runs before YouTube's player finishes loading and clicks “Skip” the same instant it renders.
Session and all-time counts of what was actually skipped and blocked — real ad slots, not inflated request tallies.
Runs with minimal site access out of the box — broader access stays optional, granted only if you choose.
Get started
No account, no sign-in. Download the build and load it into Chrome — that's the whole setup.
Grab the extension with Add to Chrome and unzip it anywhere on your computer.
Open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, and click Load unpacked → pick the folder.
The welcome page opens on install — choose Essential, Balanced, or Max blocking (and optionally add free AI keys). Then just open YouTube: skipping starts automatically.
Add Ad Sensei and get back to what you came to watch.