OpenAI announced the launch of its AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, on Tuesday. This marks a major step in the company’s quest to unseat Google as the primary way people find information online.
The company stated that Atlas will first become available on macOS, with support for Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon. OpenAI confirmed the product will be available to all free users at launch.
Browsers have quickly become the next battleground for the AI industry. While Google Chrome has long dominated the space, there is a sense that AI chatbots and agents are fundamentally changing how people get work done online. A number of startups have tried to capture this shift by launching their own AI-powered browsers, such as Perplexity’s Comet and The Browser Company’s Dia. Google and Microsoft have also tried to update Chrome and Edge with AI-powered features to make their legacy products stand out.
OpenAI’s Engineering Lead for Atlas, Ben Goodger, said in a livestream that ChatGPT is core to the company’s first browser. Users in ChatGPT Atlas can chat with their search results, similar to the experience in Perplexity or Google’s AI Mode. A key feature for other AI-powered browsers has been the built-in chatbot that sits in a side panel and automatically understands the context of whatever is on your screen. This sidecar feature removes the friction of copying and pasting text or dragging files into a separate chat, creating a smoother user experience.
OpenAI’s Product Lead, Adam Fry, said during the livestream that ChatGPT Atlas will also include the sidecar feature. Furthermore, ChatGPT Atlas will have a browser history, meaning ChatGPT can log the websites you visit and what you do on them, using that information to make its answers more personalized.
AI-powered browsers also commonly feature an AI agent that aims to automate web-based tasks for users. In testing, early versions of these web-browsing AI agents have left something to be desired. While agents like those in Perplexity’s Comet and OpenAI’s own work well for simple tasks, they struggle to reliably automate the more cumbersome problems users might want to offload to an AI system.
OpenAI’s browser includes a web-browsing agent as well. By using agent mode, users can ask ChatGPT to complete small tasks in the browser on their behalf. The company says agent mode will only be available to ChatGPT users on the Plus, Pro, and Business tiers at launch.
In an interview, Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley said he is inspired by the way browsers have redefined what an operating system can look like. He noted that browsers have revolutionized how people get work done online, and he believes ChatGPT is a similar phenomenon.
Whether OpenAI’s browser can put a dent in Google Chrome, which has more than 3 billion users globally, remains to be seen. AI browsers are generating significant buzz in Silicon Valley, but their impact in the broader world is still limited.