OpenAI Releases Web Browser to Rival Google Chrome

OpenAI is set to release Atlas, a new web browser powered by ChatGPT, its leading AI chatbot.

With features geared to provide a more personalized experience for users, Atlas could rival search giant Google’s Chrome browser, especially in areas such as ad targeting.

While it’s uncertain how popular the service will be, especially since other browsers already offer similar capabilities, it’s likely the browser will pave the way for more AI-powered web experiences.

OpenAI Introduces Atlas, a Web Browser Powered by ChatGPT

AI company OpenAI has announced the launch of the new web browser, called Atlas, which has been built with ChatGPT. The announcement was made yesterday during a surprise livestream, following rumors of the browser since the summer.

“We think AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, during the livestream.

While Atlas offers features such as content summarization and task automation, it’s also set to help create a more personalized experience for users, including with browser memories and a unique ChatGPT sidebar. 

Out With Google, In With AI

OpenAI’s most obvious target through the release of Atlas seems to be Google Chrome, the world’s most popular browser. According to Altman, ChatGPT has 800 million active weekly users, and if many of them switch to using Atlas over Google, this could mean a serious loss for the company.

Google currently has some AI features that users can take advantage of. These includes AI mode, a search engine powered by Gemini, and AI overviews, which summarizes content from sites based on a user’s search. While these tools have kept Google in the AI race, Atlas’s offering seems more robust. 

One area where Atlas could potentially overtake Google is ad targeting. Through Atlas, ChatGPT is able to collect information directly from a user’s browser window, which provides a lot of valuable data for companies on their market base. This could help funnel ads more accurately to the right people.

Will Atlas Change the Search Engine Experience?

All of the evidence leans towards Atlas providing a more personalized experience for users. One feature, browser memories, can be switched on to allow ChatGPT to remember key details from the content you browse, which in turn leads to better chat responses and suggestions specific to you.

Users can also access ChatGPT through a sidebar on any site to ask more specifically about what they are browsing.

There is also “agent mode”, where ChatGPT is able to directly interact with websites on a user’s behalf, such as for booking a trip. This feature, however, is only available to paying ChatGPT subscribers.

This could be one of the reasons that Google Chrome remains the more popular option, as it’s free to use. Likewise, some experts think that Atlas’s offering isn’t that impressive, especially since browsers such as Microsoft Edge are already offering similar features.

Whether Atlas becomes the next big browser or not, it definitely paves the way for more AI-powered search functions.