Chromium-based browser only avaiable on macOS… for now
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OpenAI launched its very first Web browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, which directly integrates the AI chatbot ChatGPT into the browser. This move puts the company in direct competition with browsers like Google Chrome and Perplexity AI’s Comet. But is it actually useful?
The main difference from traditional browsers is that the homepage does not display a search bar, but rather ChatGPT. Tabs for search results, images, and news appear in the same display window, and a sidebar allows ChatGPT to analyse or rewrite content without leaving the site.
In Atlas, you can have ChatGPT draft e-mails, summarise lengthy articles, compare products, or analyse data from a website. CEO Sam Altman describes it as a ‘once-in-a-decade opportunity to reconsider what a browser can be’.
The browser can (optionally) use ‘memory’ – that is, remember previous activities so that ChatGPT has context later on. For example: “Show me all the job vacancies I looked at last week and summarise the main trends.”
The most striking feature is the so-called Agent mode, an advanced tool that allows ChatGPT to carry out entire tasks: planning trips, shopping online, or making appointments, all within the browser. These options, however, are reserved for paid subscriptions (there are Plus and Pro tiers).
Atlas is simply the Chromium browser, and you can import your bookmarks and even install extensions – essentially everything you expect from a normal browser. You can still type in a URL, just as you’re used to.
ChatGPT already has a standalone app you can use on your Mac or Windows desktop, but that only displays text. If you ask Atlas for the best websites on a given topic, you receive a graphical overview rather than just a URL – a very useful feature for tablets, as you can combine ChatGPT and browsing at the same time.
Still, the initial reactions are mixed, and the key question remains: what does it actually add?
If you go to the homepage of a newspaper, ChatGPT will summarise the newspaper for you. But perhaps you’ve already scanned all the headlines at a glance, so you may not get much more out of it.
ChatGPT can also take the wheel of your browser. Tests show that agentic AI often doesn’t function all that well yet. Moreover, if you want to order something based on comparisons provided by ChatGPT, you’ll always need to have your login and other details at hand, because the agent cannot create an account at online shops where you haven’t purchased before. And since ChatGPT regularly makes mistakes, these kinds of actions seem rather risky to me – which OpenAI itself admits. You can only enable Agent mode after a warning.
OpenAI says Atlas will not use your browsing behaviour for model training by default. There’s a logged-out mode that lets people browse privately without being tied to personal accounts, and new parental controls allow families to disable agent mode if desired.
It’s not surprising that OpenAI and Perplexity are developing their own AI browsers. After all, they have no access to the browsers of Apple, Microsoft, or Google. And those companies are not about to abandon their browsers. Both OpenAI and Perplexity still make plenty of money from advertising through traditional search interfaces, while Microsoft profits from Bing.
Earlier this year, Chrome launched the Gemini assistant in Chrome, although for now it’s only in the US, and Edge has had CoPilot for a while – which is essentially just a sidebar that can summarise a Web page. So you can basically do the same things as with AI browsers, but remain in your familiar surroundings.
It doesn’t change the fact that a battle for AI browsers has broken out. AI search engine Perplexity has recently made its Comet Web browser available for free, whereas it was previously only available with a subscription to their search service.
Several other browser makers are also working on AI Web browsers. Opera recently introduced its paid Neon browser, and The Browser Company launched Dia.
ChatGPT Atlas is currently only available for macOS users. Users on other platforms, such as Windows, iOS, and Android, will have to wait a bit longer. Comet is currently only available for Windows and macOS. According to its makers, the browser will be coming to ‘more platforms’ soon.
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