OpenAI Challenges Chrome with AI-Powered Browser ChatGPT Atlas

Who are AI browsers for? | TechCrunch

OpenAI launched an AI-powered web browser called ChatGPT Atlas this week, which makes me wonder: Is it finally time to ditch Safari? That news was on our minds as Max Zeff, Sean O'Kane, and I discussed the browser landscape -- including some lesser-known alternatives -- on the latest episode of the Equity podcast. But it doesn't sound like any of us will be making a big switch soon. For one thing, Sean noted many companies have tried and ultimately failed to unseat the major browsers due to their inability to make money on the browser alone. Of course, that's less likely to be a problem for OpenAI, with its increasingly massive funding rounds. Max, meanwhile, has actually tried out Atlas and other browsers that promise AI agents will do the work for you, and he said there's a "slight efficiency gain" at best. At other times, you end up watching the agent "click around on a website" -- is that something normal users are really crying out for? Plus, there are significant security risks Read a preview of our conversation below, edited for length and clarity. Anthony: I'm still on Safari, but as far as the search engine, which is tied to browsers, I've actually been trying to experiment with non-Google [options,] because I'm just tired of seeing all the genAI stuff at the top of my search results. I think also there's this question of: If these AI browsers take off, what does that mean for the idea of the open web in general? You can still go to web pages, but I don't think it would be crazy to suggest that a website is just going to become less and less important as more and more of our browsing is controlled by these AI interfaces and chatbots. Max: I think that this has been a big idea that people talk about a lot: What does the agentic web look like? And I think it is a fascinating question. People have tried to come up with all these solutions to work toward this future that [they] feel is coming. And I think that there is a certain aspect of it that reminds me of previous tech waves where it's like, "Okay, but what is the actual experience? What is the value proposition to a consumer of using one of these tools?" And it's just not super compelling today. I've tried out ChatGPT Atlas and I've tried out Comet and the most generous estimation of them is, it's a slight efficiency gain. It makes you slightly more efficient. But most of the time that I've tried these things, you're slowly watching it click around on a website, doing some task that I would probably never do in the real world. I would have it, like, look up a recipe and add all of the ingredients to Instacart. I've never done that. I think all the tech bros always say that example in the videos, and I'm like, "I don't know if people are doing that that much." This is just this huge gap, in the face of the tech industry right now [saying] "We're building all these tools for the agentic web," but why would a normal person use this? And I don't know. Sean: I have not used any of those [AI browsers] but that's in large part because I'm still very much an old head when it comes to search and browsing in general -- a lot of the work that I'm doing involves looking for documents, which just naturally involves looking through different discrete parts of web pages that I'm familiar with, lots of Boolean searches on Google. Maybe I'll try these one day if Google really does up and kill Boolean search, which it feels like is coming at some point, but it's not there yet. The thing that is interesting to me about these AI browsers is that we've seen other companies try to compete in the browser space and they always lose because it's just impossible to make money on a browser as a product. And some have tried to charge up front for it, they can kind of get by for a little while, but it's just ultimately not sustainable in the face of competing against Safari or Chrome or Firefox, for that matter. What's interesting to me ... is you finally have these companies that just have infinite money, so they can ride it out as long as they want, because they're not actually trying to make money on these things yet. Eventually they probably will, but OpenAI doesn't need to make money on this thing in the next year or two, they can just have it out there and let it take shape.

OpenAI's Atlas Wants to Be the Web's Tour Guide. I'm Not Convinced It Needs One

In OpenAI's new Atlas browser, the Ask ChatGPT sidebar is moderately helpful at best. Sometimes, it's confusingly wrong. OpenAI's recently launched Atlas browser is a fascinating inversion of what users may expect from a browser, centering AI answers above traditional web links. Every click in a regular browser is a chance to see a new part of the web. Every click in Atlas is a chance to use ChatGPT. Just typed a question into the address bar? That's now a ChatGPT query. Want help contextualizing a web page? The Ask ChatGPT sidebar can see and analyze what's on your screen. Want someone to buy your Halloween costume? The "agent mode" can click around on Amazon and throw some vampire fangs into your cart. Ryan O'Rouke, OpenAI's lead designer for the browser, demonstrated the Ask ChatGPT feature during the livestream announcement of Atlas. He asked it to summarize GitHub code appearing on the web page in his browser. He called it "a major unlock," since ChatGPT can now see what's happening on the page. "It's basically you inviting ChatGPT into your corner of the internet," O'Rouke said. The Ask ChatGPT feature is notably free to use in Atlas, unlike the browser agent tool that's reserved for subscribers to ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro. Here, ChatGPT shows up as another column-constrained bot on the right side of your screen, in the same vein as the AI sidebars in Perplexity's Comet browser and Microsoft's Edge. After a few days of testing OpenAI's Ask ChatGPT feature in the Atlas Browser, I'm convinced that I want to surf the web alone. Sans sidebar. In peace. The browser is built using Chromium, an open-source browser project managed by Google that provides the codebase for Chrome, Opera, and others. Because of this, Atlas looks a lot like Chrome. (As I swiped between the two browsers on my laptop during testing, I forgot which was which a couple of times.) The nascent browser's best days are still ahead of it, with a roadmap of upcoming features such as tab groups and an ad-blocker that could build it up to be a more fully realized competitor to Chrome. It's available only on macOS for the time being. With that in mind, the Ask ChatGPT sidebar in Atlas felt clunky during my first couple of days. Not only was it difficult to get used to, I found myself having trouble thinking of questions to ask about the news articles, online recipes, and other web pages as I scrolled around. Also, the sidebar squishes the main content window, so websites you visit may appear skinnier than usual. It compressed the WIRED homepage, leaving it looking incredibly janky.

OpenAI's Atlas is more about ChatGPT than the web | TechCrunch

OpenAI unveiled its AI browser ChatGPT Atlas during a livestream on Tuesday. There have been other AI browsers such as The Browser Company's Dia, Opera's Neon, Perplexity's Comet, and General Catalyst-backed Strawberry. OpenAI's launch is notable because of the sheer scale of reaching potentially 800 million of its weekly ChatGPT consumers. For the company, the browser is much more about keeping ChatGPT central than making web browsing better. While Atlas is currently available only on the Mac, the company is already working on bringing it to Windows, iOS, and Android -- all the surfaces where ChatGPT already exists. OpenAI has also made the browser available to all users instead of opting for an invite system like its rivals. The core proposition of the browser is for you to think of ChatGPT as the first interaction surface for search and answers instead of Google. All the AI browsers have a similar idea about search and Q&A. Instead of performing a search query, you would type something in your address bar in order to get answers from an AI chatbot, instead of looking at pages of links. And OpenAI, just like other browser makers, think that Atlas will change the way you browse the web, as Sam Altman made clear at the launch. "We think AI represents once in a decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be, how to use one, and how to most productively use the web. Tabs were great but there hasn't been a lot of innovation since then," Altman said in his opening speech. Tech leaders, including Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella, have talked about AI as a platform shift. However, for consumer phones and desktop operating systems are still the primary way to get to their AI tools. OpenAI wants to own the pipes of distribution of ChatGPT as much as it can. Last week, we saw Meta shut their doors to third-party chatbots, including ChatGPT and Perplexity on WhatsApp, which has over 3 billion monthly users. This essentially means that the platform owners could put the brake on distribution at any point in time. For OpenAI, Atlas will also present an opportunity to deeply integrate ChatGPT and other products better as compared to other platforms. People can directly reference multiple websites instead of posting links to ChatGPT. The company already used a headless browser for its agent. With Atlas, it might have more control over the feature. It has already integrated a writing assistant hover that shows up in text fields. What's more, the company is working on integrating its App SDK, which lets you call other apps within ChatGPT, to improve discoverability. The memory feature is also key for ChatGPT's power users. The feature takes in account the browsing history, along with your ChatGPT history, to provide answers with that context in mind. You can possibly ask, "What was the work document I had my presentation plan on?" and ChatGPT will fetch that link for you. This also means that ChatGPT gets more context about you as you spend more time in the browser. OpenAI can use this context and provide it to other apps when it starts rolling out Sign in with ChatGPT widely. Both ChatGPT as a default option in the address bar and the memory feature are designed to give more data to OpenAI, so it has more context on you, and in turn, can serve you better products. The browser doesn't have an ad-blocker, or VPN, a reading mode, or a translate feature to make my browsing experience better for a site. Rather, I have to ask ChatGPT to summarize content or find something on a page. As if opening a page is designed to give ChatGPT more context rather than having me consume the content on the page. In contrast, The Browser Company's Arc had some useful ideas around revamping browser experience, like using AI to rename downloaded files or customize a web page by letting you remove elements. The result is more than a browser; it's a broader canvas for ChatGPT itself. OpenAI's CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, laid out this idea in her blog outlining the Atlas launch. "When we first released ChatGPT, we weren't sure how people would use it. Now that we have feedback and signals from hundreds of millions of people around the world, it's clear ChatGPT needs to become so much more than the simple chatbot it started as. Over time, we see ChatGPT evolving to become the operating system for your life: a fully connected hub that helps you manage your day and achieve your long-term goals," Simo said. The big question for OpenAI is to make people, whose default browser is Chrome, Safari or Edge, switch to their own browser and get some market share out of Google, Apple, and Microsoft's hands. OpenAI is seeing steady growth in the number of people using ChatGPT. But it is not clear if an average user would want to mix their browser and chatbot experience just yet. Chrome succeeded because it was fast, and people wanted to use Google queries as the default starting experience of the internet. ChatGPT Atlas is perfect for users who have replaced Google with ChatGPT, but to replace Chrome, OpenAI needs to make sure that billions of users fall into that habit.

OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Atlas, Challenging Google Chrome With an AI-First Browser

Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing. OpenAI just released a generative AI-powered web browser called ChatGPT Atlas, which marks a big step in the company's expansion beyond its ChatGPT chatbot platform. The browser, announced Tuesday, integrates ChatGPT's capabilities directly into the browsing experience, aiming to make web use more interactive and chatbot-like. OpenAI sparked speculation earlier Tuesday after posting a cryptic teaser on its X account showing a series of browser tabs. During the YouTube livestream, CEO Sam Altman and others announced the browser and live-demoed a few of the new features now available for MacOS users worldwide. Support for Windows, iOS and Android operating systems is "coming soon." (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) The new product launch comes amid growing competition among tech companies to embed AI assistants more deeply into everyday tools. For instance, Google has already integrated Gemini into its Chrome browser to add AI to the online browsing experience. Earlier this year, the AI search tool developer Perplexity launched Comet, an AI-powered Chromium-based web browser. Here's everything OpenAI announced today. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. ChatGPT Atlas looks and functions like a traditional web browser. It includes tabs, bookmarks, extensions and incognito mode, but adds popular ChatGPT functions and features throughout. Opening a new tab lets you either enter a URL or ask ChatGPT a question. The browser includes separate tabs for different types of results, such as search links, images, videos and news. A built-in ChatGPT sidebar can analyze whatever page you're viewing to provide summaries, explanations or quick answers without leaving the site. ChatGPT can also offer in-line writing assistance, suggesting edits and completions inside any text field, such as an email draft. One of the biggest new features is browser memory, which keeps track of pages and topics you have previously explored. Atlas can suggest related pages, help users return to past research or automate repetitive tasks. Memory is optional and can be viewed, edited or deleted at any time in settings. Atlas also supports natural language commands, meaning you could type something like "reopen the shoes I looked at yesterday" or "clean up my tabs" and the browser should respond accordingly. Read also: OpenAI Plans to Allow Erotica and Change Mental Health Restrictions for Adult Users OpenAI also previewed agent mode, which lets ChatGPT take limited actions on behalf of the user -- such as booking travel, ordering groceries or gathering research. The company says the mode is faster than standard ChatGPT and comes with new safeguards to keep users in control. Agent mode is available to Plus and Pro subscribers, and is available in beta for Business users. "In the same way that GPT-5 and Codex are these great tools for vibe coding, we believe we can start in the long run to have an amazing tool for vibe lifing," Will Ellsworth, the research lead for agent mode in Atlas, said during the livestream. "So delegating all kinds of tasks both in your personal and professional life to the agent in Atlas." To get started, you'll first download Atlas at chatgpt.com/atlas. When you open Atlas for the first time, you'll need to sign in to your ChatGPT account. From there, you can import your bookmarks, saved passwords and browsing history from your current browser.

OpenAI's Atlas Browser Takes Direct Aim at Google Chrome

OpenAI announced on Tuesday it's rolling out a new internet browser called Atlas that integrates directly with ChatGPT. Atlas includes features like a sidebar window people can use to ask ChatGPT questions about the web pages they visit. There's also an AI agent that can click around and complete tasks on a user's behalf. "We think that AI represents a rare, once a decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during a livestream announcing Atlas. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then." Atlas debuts as Silicon Valley races to use generative AI to reshape how people experience the internet. Google has also announced a plethora of AI features for its popular Chrome browser, including a "sparkle" button that launches its Gemini chatbot. Chrome remains the most used browser worldwide. OpenAI says the Atlas browser will be available starting today for ChatGPT users globally on macOS. Windows and mobile options are currently in the works. Atlas is free to use, though the "agent mode" features are reserved for subscribers to OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro plans.

The ChatGPT Atlas browser still feels like Googling with extra steps

This week, OpenAI debuted its long-rumored AI browser that aims to put its AI chatbot at the center of the internet. The browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, is entering a space that's already occupied by Perplexity's Comet and Google Gemini in Chrome. OpenAI is likely betting that putting ChatGPT front and center is enough to draw users in, but the overall experience falls short when compared to rivals so far. The Chromium-based ChatGPT Atlas -- currently exclusive to macOS, though versions for other platforms are promised -- comes with a minimalist interface. On the left side of the window, you'll find a collapsible tab with your ChatGPT history. In the center is your URL bar, which also lets you directly search using ChatGPT. On the right is an "Ask ChatGPT" button, which you can hit to chat specifically about whatever website you're currently on. For ChatGPT Plus, Business, and Pro members, there's also an "agentic mode," which can complete tasks like adding items to an online shopping cart. ChatGPT Atlas' homescreen offers suggestions for getting started, like "Find the best restaurants near me." Over time, it populates with some recommendations based on what you've searched for in the browser, though it wasn't always clear how -- the browser showed me a suggested search for Halloween costume recommendations after I asked ChatGPT for ideas a few times, but never surfaced anything related to restaurants despite me conducting multiple searches for them. Either way, I found myself missing the option to view the daily news stories and weather I can find on the Microsoft Edge homepage, or the Perplexity Comet browser's customizable "Discover" page with recent news, even if all its snippets are AI-generated (which raises a bunch of questions). Once you do get started with ChatGPT Atlas, the immediately obvious problem is that ChatGPT simply doesn't feel like an adequate portal to the web. When you first type a query, you'll typically receive an AI-generated response from ChatGPT, after which you can elect to do things like turn your query into a classic web search with a list of related blue links, similar to classic Google Search. But the results aren't always relevant. When I searched for "news near me," for example, ChatGPT provided an AI-generated response with stories relevant to my area. But the search results page gave me links to local news websites for the San Francisco Bay Area; Little Rock, Arkansas; Salt Lake City, Utah; and other locations where I don't live. Like Google, ChatGPT Atlas will display a map if you're looking for a business or attraction in a specific area, along with a brief description of each spot and its hours, price range, and ratings. But you can't click into the reviews or even see where they come from. This puts OpenAI at a disadvantage compared to, say, Comet, which features a TripAdvisor integration, allowing you to view more detailed information about a location, images, and AI-summarized reviews. Searches for other topics, like "how to apply fertilizer to an orchid" or "best restaurants in Las Vegas," yielded more relevant results from across the web. But ChatGPT Atlas will show you just 10 links per query, with no option to include results beyond that. When you enter a new question in the same chat, ChatGPT Atlas will stack the results, allowing you to scroll up and down the page to see all the links relevant to your chat. The split between topics isn't easy to see, as ChatGPT Atlas divides it with a barely visible gray line and text that states what you've searched for. OpenAI will also save your searches to the same place where your ChatGPT conversations go, which can quickly clutter things up if you want to revisit certain chats from the chatbot's standalone app. The limited search experience is probably why ChatGPT Atlas includes a link to Google in the top-right corner of each search results page. In addition to the new web search tab, ChatGPT Atlas displays options to search for images, videos, and news stories. There's also a "browser memories" feature within ChatGPT Atlas, which tailors chat responses and suggestions to your recent queries. ChatGPT Atlas can reorder and close tabs for you as well, with the ability to group tabs on the way. Of course, the big promise of AI browsers isn't just that they'll let you find things online, but that they can help contextualize and navigate whatever you're looking at. When you land on a webpage with ChatGPT Atlas, you can highlight and right-click text to ask ChatGPT for more information about a specific snippet. You can also open up the Ask ChatGPT tab on the upper-right side of the browser to ask questions about what you're reading, or to surface related information without having to open another tab. It's basically a ChatGPT-flavored version of Gemini in Chrome and Perplexity's AI assistant in Comet, and after a bit of early testing, seems to work about as well. The agentic mode for paid users goes a step further and can perform tasks on your behalf, such as making appointments or booking trips, or helping you complete a purchase. It will do this, however, a bit slowly. I found that you have to manually select the "agentic mode" button before making your request; otherwise, ChatGPT Atlas will say it can't complete the task. For my first request, I asked ChatGPT Atlas to fill up my Amazon cart with items based on my recent browsing history, and it took the chatbot a total of 10 minutes to add just three items. I watched as ChatGPT Atlas navigated Amazon's interface and talked itself through various issues. "It appears I opened a new tab, but it's still showing 'about:blank,' which means the page hasn't fully loaded. I'll give it time," ChatGPT wrote to itself at one point. Meanwhile, it took Comet about two minutes to add three items to my cart -- still not blazing fast, but more reasonable. But ChatGPT Atlas successfully composed and sent an email directly in Gmail in around 30 seconds, and created a Google Calendar event for me in the same amount of time. It also searched for the best restaurants near me and got ready to book a reservation at one in a few minutes, but it got tripped up when I asked it to schedule the reservation for "next Friday." ChatGPT Atlas scheduled it for this Friday instead. Given the options already out there, ChatGPT Atlas is a bit of an underwhelming start for a company that wants to build a series of interconnected apps that could eventually become an AI operating system. The company has already launched apps within ChatGPT that work directly with services like Zillow, Spotify, and Canva, along with a way to purchase products from Walmart and Etsy while using the chatbot, none of which requires a dedicated browser. AI may be the future of search, but ChatGPT Atlas still needs a lot of work if OpenAI wants to pull people away from traditional browsers like Chrome.

OpenAI is already planning updates to Atlas - here's what we know so far

Fixes include multiprofile support and more user personalization. Just one day after OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, its free web browser built around its popular chatbot, the company was already promising a slew of updates to improve user experience and boost competitiveness with the tech giants that have long dominated the online search industry. Also: I let ChatGPT Atlas do my Walmart shopping for me - here's how the AI browser agent did "We're really focused on building the best product for all of you, and since launch, the team has been heads down making it better," OpenAI's Product Lead Adam Fry wrote in a Wednesday X post. The post included an image of a list of what Fry described as "very short-term things" the company would be "fixing over the coming weeks." (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) This was not a thoroughly detailed description of OpenAI's plans for the evolution of Atlas, but more of a rough-and-ready snapshot; it almost had the look of a hastily assembled to-do list that Fry or one of his colleagues had jotted down on the notes app of their iPhone as early user reports came flooding in. Still, it provides a glimpse into some of the technical developments users can expect, and how the new browser is likely to evolve over time. The third item on Fry's list, for example, is "multiprofile support." This probably refers to an option for users to create separate profiles, each with their own setting modifications, browser history, and linked applications. Competing browsers like Chrome and Safari already offer this feature. Also: Perplexity will give you $20 for every friend you refer to Comet - how to get your cash Fry also wrote that OpenAI will "improve personalization of suggestions" within Atlas, something that the company has been working on across its AI tools more broadly: training them to generate outputs that are uniquely tailored to the preferences of individual users. This was one of the technical fixes that company CEO Sam Altman promised for GPT-5 following that model's underwhelming debut this past August. Fry's list contained multiple items pertaining to Atlas' agentic capabilities. The browser currently offers an experimental "agent mode" for ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, which lets it reference a user's browsing history and autonomously execute complex web tasks, such as searching through travel sites to find flight options, drafting emails, or prepping an online order. For example, he wrote that the company would "improve under-triggering of ChatGPT using agent mode," or the system's ability to automatically use Agent Mode when that's an appropriate response to a user request. He also wrote that future versions of Atlas would come with more detailed animations of chain-of-thought reasoning for Agent Mode, enabling users to closely assess how the system is reaching a given output. Also: Looking for a Chrome alternative? My top 5 free open-source browsers Fry added in his X post that his team was open to receiving more suggestions from users on how to improve Atlas, and that there were additional planned fixes involving third-party partners that he wasn't able to publicly disclose. Atlas is a direct challenge to Google, Microsoft, and Apple, the tech giants that have long dominated the online browsing industry. Also: Worried about superintelligence? So are these AI leaders - here's why OpenAI is hoping it can sell a new model for web browsing -- one that's fundamentally different from the paradigm we've grown used to over decades, which is based on entering queries into a search bar and being presented with a long list of internet links. Want more stories about AI? Sign up for AI Leaderboard, our weekly newsletter. Other companies, like Perplexity and Atlassian, are also taking on the long-standing browser regime with their own web browsers, building AI into their cores.

Don't Call It A Browser War: OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Atlas

OpenAI launched a browser, ChatGPT Atlas, yesterday, marking a new milestone in the arms race of AI browsers. The announcement comes after Perplexity facetiously offered to buy Google Chrome and launched its own browser, Comet, and a number of AI-integrated web browsers have hit the market. Atlas provides a new medium for OpenAI to reach and engage users. And by owning a browser, OpenAI can track user behavior off ChatGPT, and it takes some infrastructure into its own hands to run AI agents. For example, if the browser handles user authentication, OpenAI could make agentic commerce a near reality. At the launch event, Sam Altman demonstrated Atlas' agent mode, which can browse websites and use word processors on users' behalf. OpenAI Has High Hurdles To Clear In A Competitive Market OpenAI's decision to launch a browser isn't guaranteed success. Growing Atlas requires OpenAI to: * Unsettle a web browser behemoth. Google Chrome is a dominant player in the web browser space. Even in Europe, where the Digital Markets Act forces gatekeeper companies to prompt users to set a default browser, Chrome's user base hasn't been significantly impacted. It grew by promoting Chrome to its sizable audience of Search users, a playbook that OpenAI is trying to copy while facing a much more complex market dynamic. And so far, none of the US Department of Justice's proposed remedies for Google's monopolies call for Google to spinoff Chrome. * Differentiate in an increasingly crowded market. More browsers are integrating AI. Some are natural couplings, like Google Gemini and Chrome, or Microsoft Copilot and Edge. An AI-enabled browser alone isn't a differentiator; OpenAI will have to find a meaningful value proposition to pull in more users -- which, again, is a tall order when they're facing a very powerful, highly used incumbent web browser. * Expand past power users. Atlas will draw attention among heavy ChatGPT users, but there's a potential trap of pulling in users who are likely to use ChatGPT on any device and are relatively easy to retain. ChatGPT will need to find a way to attract the sporadic user while being careful not to increase barriers to entry for these casual users. As of launch, the browser's agent mode is only available to ChatGPT users that pay a subscription fee. * Assuage privacy and security concerns. ChatGPT users have already been caught off guard by reports that their ChatGPT conversations are discoverable in Google search results. Even Sam Altman is surprised by how much users trust ChatGPT. It remains to be seen how OpenAI will use users' data from Atlas, but for users who prefer anonymity and privacy, the browser may be too great of a risk. * Prove return on investment without degrading the user experience. Browser development takes time and money (just ask Firefox). For OpenAI to get value from Atlas, it has to spend money to make money. It already offers a subscription model, but interest is low -- only 20% of US online adults who use AI platforms or tools for personal use say they pay for them. OpenAI may be tempted to show ads to recoup costs and turn a profit, but it also must deliver a good user experience to stand out in a competitive market, which limits its options. Its nascent affiliate network can provide some reprieve, but consumer awareness of and appetite for agentic commerce is low (for now). For more on where consumers stand on AI, check out our research (below) or set up a guidance session. Thank you to Paddy Harrington, Nikhil Lai, and Rowan Curran for contributing to this blog.

OpenAI's new browser is a broadside shot at Google | TechCrunch

"We think AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be," Altman said. "In the same way that, for the previous way people used the internet, the URL bar and the search box were a great analogue, what we're starting to see is that the chat experience and the web browser can be a quick analogue." It was an inspiring note, in the classic Steve Jobs mode. But even more important than Altman's browser was the detritus he was sweeping aside to make room. It wasn't just casting present-day browsers as old, but part of a whole package of goods that are about to be replaced by AI -- as Altman put it, part of "the previous way people used the internet." And most of those soon-to-be obsolete services trace back to a single company: Google. OpenAI's browser project has been an open secret in Silicon Valley since at least this summer -- and it was clear from the beginning that it would be a potential threat to Google, current owner of the world's most popular browser. But Tuesday's product and presentation details made it clear exactly how much the web giant has to lose in the AI era -- and how little the Google's success with Gemini seems to have helped. The immediate threat is simple enough: ChatGPT draws 800 million users a week, and if those users switch to Atlas, they're most likely switching away from Chrome. Losing those users doesn't have an immediate dollar cost for Google (it's a free product, after all) but it limits Google's ability to target ads to those users or nudge them to Google Search -- a particular sore point because, just last month, Google was barred by the US Department of Justice from making any search exclusivity deals. Then, there's how OpenAI deals with search itself. AI has already strained the search model of the web, surfacing processed information instead of content that can be advertised against. But on OpenAI's livestream, Atlas head of engineering Ben Goodger (himself a central figure in developing both Firefox and Chrome) described the new kind of chat-oriented search as a paradigm shift. "This new model of search is really powerful," Goodger said. "It's a multi-turn experience. You can have this back-and-forth with your search results instead of just being sent off to a web page." Of course, Google has done a lot to integrate AI into the normal search experience -- but the company has mostly approached it the same way as product listings or reviews: by adding a box to the results page. But OpenAI's kind of engaged back-and-forth is beyond anything you can get on Chrome, and given its profoundly different approach, it's not something that can be easily copied. If OpenAI's search interface proves popular, it could be a serious threat to Google's dominance. Then there's the advertising question. OpenAI doesn't serve advertising at the moment, but it has been careful not to rule it out. The company has also been listing a lot of adtech jobs lately, fueling speculation that an ad pivot might be on the way. With Atlas, ChatGPT can now collect context directly from a user's browser window -- providing a lot of extremely valuable data for ad targeting. It's an unprecedented level of direct browser access: literally looking at the words on your screen as you type them. And after decades of privacy scares, it's not the kind of sensitive information that users are likely to give to Google or Meta. It's still early days for Atlas and a lot will depend on the product itself -- and whether users really want what OpenAI is offering here. But the company has plotted a surprisingly commercial path here, one focused on user and revenue growth rather than hazy ambitions around AGI. As infrastructure wonks ponder the $300 billion question of whether OpenAI's revenues can ever live up to its enormous data center buildout, products like Atlas may be the first place to look for an answer.

ChatGPT's Atlas Browser Shows Potential, But It's No Chrome Killer...Yet

An expert in all things Windows, Michael has been reviewing PC software for more than 15 years. 2025 is the year of the AI web browser, with the launch of Copilot Mode in Edge, Opera's Neon, and Perplexity's Comet. Even Chrome, the dominant force among traditional web browsers, is adding AI functionality via Gemini. And now, OpenAI, the biggest name in AI, is joining the party with its Chromium-based ChatGPT Atlas browser. But is it the best one yet? Based on my testing, the answer isn't definitive. Practically any other browser is better than Atlas for standard web surfing, but I did find its Agent mode cool to watch and occasionally impressive. Here's how it works and what you should expect. How Do You Get the Atlas Browser? For now, Atlas is available only for macOS, but OpenAI says Android and Windows versions are coming soon. I tested the browser on a MacBook Air with an M1 processor. Although that device has onboard AI processing capabilities, the Atlas browser still requires cloud processing. The onboarding process for the browser is quite clear, with more hand-holding than I expected. To get started, head to OpenAI's Atlas page and click the Download button. Downloading it doesn't require an account for now, so I was able to get the DMG app file and just install it as usual. Upon first launching Atlas, it greets you with a Welcome dialog box and asks you to sign in. Atlas takes you directly to the login page rather than spawning your default browser. Signing in also fires off a couple of notifications. I logged in with my password and used my authenticator app to complete the multi-factor authentication process. OpenAI says that Atlas is available for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users, meaning you don't need a paid account. Pretty much every other browser is free (including many AI ones), so that makes sense. Just keep in mind that free users get limited usage of AI features compared with paid users and miss out on the Agent mode (see below). As in standard, Atlas then prompted me to import my bookmarks and history from my default browser. Only Safari and Chrome were options, however, neither of which is my default. The next option is something you don't see during a typical browser setup: Atlas asked me whether I wanted to turn on Memories. This allows the AI to observe your interactions and provide more accurate responses. The panel says that the information remains private, and, fortunately, the linked documentation confirms that AI model training based on your actions is disabled by default. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in my testing. If you do want to turn it on manually, enable the "Improve the model for everyone" setting. Training is active by default if you enabled it in your main ChatGPT account, which is the default for non-business accounts. Be sure to check this setting if you're concerned about your private interactions going into OpenAI's models. The bottom line is that the "private" bit in OpenAI's marketing language isn't fully accurate. As Microsoft discovered with its Recall feature on Copilot+ PCs, these types of features (including ones that operate locally) can have unexpected and undesired consequences, despite their convenience. The next panel in the setup process simply informs you about some of the browser's unique capabilities, in particular that you can access the AI in a sidebar to ask it to summarize or provide info about the current website or even carry out actions on it for you via Agent mode. Next is another informational panel that shows how you can highlight text on web pages to generate text. Then, we're back to an option you see during all browser setup processes: Atlas tries to get you to set it as your default browser. The difference here is that you get extended AI interaction limits for chats, data analysis, file uploads, and image generation if you do. For the sake of testing, I assented and made Atlas my default. Finally, I saw the last of these setup boxes, which merely showed how long I'd had a ChatGPT account. Atlas Is Somewhat Like a Regular Browser, But With Extra Smarts Atlas looks a lot like Chrome at first glance, except with a ChatGPT search box rather than a Google one. The user interface is actually cleaner than Chrome's, however, without the buttons along the top-right window title bar. And -- shocker -- you don't see an address or search bar at all until you click on the blank area where those typically live. I rely on toolbar buttons for things like Downloads, Favorites, and History, so Atlas' inability to show these chagrined me. You can click a menu option or use a shortcut key to display the entire history page, but I prefer the convenience of a button with drop-down results. Otherwise, Atlas lets you install browser extensions from the Chrome Web Store. I simply ignored an ad box promoting ChatGPT Business, which offered advanced models and connectors to my work data, since I don't think my IT staff would approve. This design effectively encourages you to use the on-page ChatGPT search box. Unlike with other browsers, you can't set a default search engine. Of course, you can still just navigate to Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Google in a regular browser tab within Atlas. You can also configure shortcut keys for searching with other engines, but it's not as straightforward a process as in other browsers. Another weirdness is the microphone button in the search box. I expect this to simply enable voice interaction, but it instead uploaded a recording of what I said for processing. When I typed "Google Chrome" into the ChatGPT search box, I appreciated receiving web links in return, rather than an AI-generated conversation. This indicates that this search box is pretty good at understanding when you're searching for websites versus when you want to chat. The search results page feels spacious and sparse because it's free of ads! Scrolling down the page reveals (after some image results) more AI-chatbot-like results, with sections on What Is Google Chrome, Key Features, and so on. When I used the web search mode to ask, "How to turn on Agent mode in ChatGPT Atlas," I didn't get any results. Google obliged, however, informing me that I needed a Plus account for this feature. The very basic and unhelpful Help in Atlas couldn't tell me the same, and I wish the setup process had noted this requirement from the start. An important Atlas interface feature is the left-side panel, which can be opened with an icon. It offers New Chat, Search, Library, Archived Chats, Codex (programming AI), GPTs, and New Project options. If you're on a web page, you can open a right-side panel via the Ask ChatGPT button to ask questions about the current page. Unfortunately, when I tried to do this, I was told that I had to attach the web page or upload a file to proceed. That seems to defeat the purpose of having AI in the browser; Edge has been able to do this for a couple of years without much fuss. However, my initial experience may have been influenced by the PCMag page I was browsing; the summary feature worked fine with a Yahoo Finance article. Controlling Browser Settings With AI Partially Works Atlas is self-aware. When I told it to "switch to dark mode," the browser complied, with the window showing white text on a black background. It didn't fare as well when I asked it to switch my default search engine to Bing. It stated that it would utilize that Microsoft service for web searches going forward, but since there's no search engine setting, I presumed that it might be using Bing inside of ChatGPT. In any case, my search results were identical to those I got before telling it to switch. Agent Mode Is a Mixed Bag When I asked the chatbot inside Atlas to make me a dinner reservation, its response surprised me: It said it couldn't do that but could show me good restaurant choices. When I tried the same thing in Edge with Copilot mode, it opened the OpenTable site and guided me through the search and reservation process (though this took much longer than it would have for me to do so by myself). As you can see, the response didn't inform me that upgrading to a paid account would enable this capability. Since I had obtained this information from other sources, I signed up for a free trial of ChatGPT's Plus account level to try out Agent mode. The first time I invoked Agent mode, the browser displayed a large warning about the risks associated with using the feature. You have two options for using it: Logged In and Logged Out. You select these options at the bottom of the right-side panel shown above. To fully use the Agent mode, you must log in to the site you want it to act on, in addition to toggling the Logged In mode. This limitation alone restricts the usefulness of Agent mode. In any case, I logged into my Outlook test account and asked the right-side panel to compose a thank-you letter to a friend for taking me to dinner last night at a local Mexican restaurant. Afterward, I could start to see the magic. Sparkles appeared on the page, and a "Getting Started" message appeared. Atlas followed up with similar messages explaining the steps it was taking. As with Copilot Mode in Edge and Perplexity Comet, a toolbar appears with the option to "Take Control," which is useful if it appears the AI is going haywire. The result, which took about 15 seconds, was quite basic but adequate: I then asked Atlas to make dinner reservations on OpenTable at an Italian restaurant in NYC for 7 p.m. It handled this impressively, even without me logging in to my account. Like Edge in Copilot mode and Perplexity Comet, however, the process was far from instantaneous. It was fun to watch its decision process as it selected the highest rated restaurant and an available time. It chose a $99-per-person prixe-fixe place, however, a little rich for my blood. At that point, I did need to fill in my phone number or log in to complete the reservation. Next, I asked Atlas to find a recipe for eggplant Parmesan and fill an Instacart cart with the items. It quickly found a recipe online, and then I enjoyed seeing it loading the Instacart with items at Costco. I'll call this a win for Atlas. This took six minutes, however, and at the end, Atlas instructed me to log in and complete the order. Granted, I could probably have done this myself in less time, but why lift a finger? A little later, I discovered a mistake: Somehow, I don't think you need Good Humor Frozen Dessert Bar Strawberry Shortcake bars to make lasagna. For a final test, I asked Atlas to retrieve the closing prices of the S&P 500 for the last 30 days and create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets with those, along with the corresponding percentage increase or decrease. Initially, it generated code to download the data, but that didn't pan out, so it turned to Yahoo Finance and obtained the numbers. It stopped me from logging into a Google account. I had to ask it to resume after logging in. Oddly, even after I logged in, the sidebar still said "logged out." The difficulty here is that Atlas's Logged In mode is separate from whether you're actually logged in to a site. For everything to work, you need to be logged in to the site and in Agent's Logged In mode. In any case, this time the operation came to a halt. I received an "error in message stream" message, but the tool restarted the tasks when I clicked the Retry button. It's amusing to see Atlas' positive self-talk while it's working: "The user has asked me to repeat the previous tasks. I need to carefully consider how to approach this again to ensure I deliver the same high level of accuracy and usefulness. Let's aim for another successful outcome!" I was actually hoping for a more successful outcome. Several times, when I asked it something like "Why did you stop?" It redoubled its efforts. I appreciated how it named the spreadsheet S&P 500 Last 30 Days, even without my request. It also created formulas to calculate the percent increases, though I expect you can simply download this information without needing to perform calculations. In the end, it successfully produced the sheet and gave me a link to it in the right-side panel. Again, this was something I could have done myself more quickly. I'm sure there are more complex business processes that the tool could accomplish more efficiently than a human, but the less complex tasks I gave it seem to challenge the AI browser enough. Use Atlas to Supplement, Not Replace, Your Main Browser In its current state, I can't wholly recommend ChatGPT Atlas to anyone. You're much better off sticking with your current browser (most of which now have some sort of AI functionality) and opening the ChatGPT website to use its generative AI features. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox all let you summarize the current web page with less effort than Atlas requires, too. That said, it's entertaining to observe Atlas' Agent mode go through its thought processes. I could thus see using Atlas as a secondary browser for tasks or projects that you're not sure about handling yourself -- so long as you don't mind paying for a ChatGPT account and verifying its actions. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas AI browser, LLM can browse the internet for you and even complete tasks -- initial release for macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android to follow soon after

OpenAI just announced a new AI-powered browser that integrates its ChatGPT LLM right into the app. During a livestream, the company unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, coming first to macOS, with Windows, iPhone, and Android support to follow. ChatGPT Atlas is a Chromium-based browser that uses the same platform as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. What makes it different is that the built-in ChatGPT will allow it to browse the internet and perform actions on your behalf. Some examples shown during the live stream include instructing it to search the browsing history for something you've seen before, using the ChatGPT sidebar to look at a webpage and explain it to you, and even doing things for you, like scanning a recipe and ordering the ingredients on your Instacart account. Because of this, ChatGPT Atlas can potentially do a lot of your tedious tasks, like moving data from a Google Docs file into a project management app or listing items you have to buy and putting them in your preferred basket. Of course, giving an AI in-depth access to your browser means that it would be able to see your data and private information, so OpenAI gave users the option to use it in logged-in or logged-out mode. When you select the latter, ChatGPT will only browse the public internet and won't have access to your accounts. Still, it does not mean that it won't be vulnerable, especially as Comet, Perplexity AI's AI-driven browser, has proven to be vulnerable to basic phishing scams and malicious code injection. OpenAI and Perplexity aren't the only ones building an AI-powered browser, though. Google was reportedly working on something similar since last year, Microsoft introduced Copilot Mode that allows you to talk about your open tabs in July, and Opera Neon is already in early access. All these apps are free at the moment, but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that ChatGPT Atlas' more advanced Agent Mode is limited to Plus and Pro users, while Microsoft said that its Copilot Mode in Edge will only be free for a limited time.

OpenAI's Atlas browser promises ultimate convenience. But the glossy marketing masks safety risks

University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. Last week, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser that promises to revolutionise how we interact with the internet. The company's CEO, Sam Altman, described it as a "once-a-decade opportunity" to rethink how we browse the web. The promise is compelling: imagine an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that follows you across every website, remembers your preferences, summarises articles, and handles tedious tasks such as booking flights or ordering groceries on your behalf. But beneath the glossy marketing lies a more troubling reality. Atlas is designed to be "agentic", able to autonomously navigate websites and take actions in your logged-in accounts. This introduces security and privacy vulnerabilities that most users are unprepared to manage. While OpenAI touts innovation, it's quietly shifting the burden of safety onto unsuspecting consumers who are being asked to trust an AI with their most sensitive digital decisions. What makes agent mode different At the heart of Atlas's appeal is "agent mode". Unlike traditional web browsers where you manually navigate the internet, agent mode allows ChatGPT to operate your browser semi-autonomously. For example, when prompted to "find a cocktail bar near you and book a table", it will search, evaluate options, and attempt to make a reservation. The technology works by giving ChatGPT access to your browsing context. It can see every open tab, interact with forms, click buttons and navigate between pages just as you would. Combined with Atlas's "browser memories" feature, which logs websites you visit and your activities on them, the AI builds an increasingly detailed understanding of your digital life. This contextual awareness is what enables agent mode to work. But it's also what makes it dangerously vulnerable. A perfect storm of security risks The risks inherent in this design go beyond conventional browser security concerns. Consider prompt injection attacks, where malicious websites embed hidden commands that manipulate the AI's behaviour. Imagine visiting what appears to be a legitimate shopping site. The page, however, contains invisible instructions directing ChatGPT to scrape personal data from all open tabs, such as an active medical portal or a draft email, and then extract the sensitive details without ever needing to access a password. Similarly, malicious code on one website could potentially influence the AI's behaviour across multiple tabs. For example, a script on a shopping site could trick the AI agent into switching to your open banking tab and submitting a transfer form. Atlas's autofill capabilities and form interaction features can become attack vectors. This is especially the case when an AI is making split-second decisions about what information to enter and where to submit it. The personalisation features compound these risks. Atlas's browser memories create comprehensive profiles of your behavior: websites you visit, what you search for, what you purchase, and content you read. While OpenAI promises this data won't train its models by default, Atlas is still storing more highly personal data in one place. This consolidated trove of information represents a honeypot for hackers. Should OpenAI's business model evolve, it could also become a gold mine for highly targeted advertising. OpenAI says it has tried to protect users' security and has run thousands of hours of focused simulated attacks. It also says it has "added safeguards to address new risks that can come from access to logged-in sites and browsing history while taking actions on your behalf". However, the company still acknowledges "agents are susceptible to hidden malicious instructions, [which] could lead to stealing data from sites you're logged into or taking actions you didn't intend". A downgrade in browser security This marks a major escalation in browser security risks. For example, sandboxing is a security approach designed to keep websites isolated and prevent malicious code from accessing data from other tabs. The modern web depends on this separation. But in Atlas, the AI agent isn't malicious code - it's a trusted user with permission to see and act across all sites. This undermines the core principle of browser isolation. And while most AI safety concerns have focused on the technology producing inaccurate information, prompt injection is more dangerous. It's not the AI making a mistake; it's the AI following a hostile command hidden in the environment. Atlas is especially vulnerable because it gives human-level control to an intelligence layer that can be manipulated by reading a single malicious line of text on an untrusted site. Think twice before using Before agentic browsing becomes mainstream, we need rigorous third-party security audits from independent researchers who can stress-test Atlas's defenses against these risks. We need clearer regulatory frameworks that define liability when AI agents make mistakes or get manipulated. And we need OpenAI to prove, not simply promise, that its safeguards can withstand determined attackers. For people who are considering downloading Atlas, the advice is straightforward: extreme caution. If you do use Atlas, think twice before you enable agent mode on websites where you handle sensitive information. Treat browser memories as a security liability and disable them unless you have a compelling reason to share your complete browsing history with an AI. Use Atlas's incognito mode as your default, and remember that every convenience feature is simultaneously a potential vulnerability. The future of AI-powered browsing may indeed be inevitable, but it shouldn't arrive at the expense of user security. OpenAI's Atlas asks us to trust that innovation will outpace exploitation. History suggests we shouldn't be so optimistic.

OpenAI defends Atlas as prompt injection attacks surface

OpenAI's brand new Atlas browser is more than willing to follow commands maliciously embedded in a web page, an attack type known as indirect prompt injection. Prompt injection vulnerability is a common flaw among browsers that incorporate AI agents like Perplexity's Comet and Fellou, as noted in a report published by Brave Software on Tuesday, coincidentally amid OpenAI's handwaving about the debut of Atlas. Indirect prompt injection can occur when an AI model or agent handles content like a web page or image and then treats that content as if it were part of its instructed task. Direct prompt injection refers to instructions entered directly into a model's input box that bypass or override existing system instructions. "What we've found confirms our initial concerns: indirect prompt injection is not an isolated issue, but a systemic challenge facing the entire category of AI-powered browsers," Artem Chaikin, senior mobile security engineer for Brave, and Shivan Kaul Sahib, VP of privacy and security, wrote in their post. US Editor Avram Piltch created a web page with text on it telling the browser to open Gmail and exfiltrate the subject line of the first email and send it to another site. Fellou fell for it, but neither Atlas nor Comet took the bait. Pranav Vishnu, product lead for ChatGPT Atlas, did warn potential users that OpenAI's browser-AI chimera might entail some risk. It didn't take long for the internet community to demonstrate indirect prompt injection using Atlas, a Chromium-based browser that makes ChatGPT available as an agent capable of processing web page data. Developer CJ Zafir said in a social media post that he uninstalled Atlas after finding "prompt injections are real." Another security researcher also reported a successful prompt injection test using Google Docs, which The Register was able to replicate - getting ChatGPT in Atlas to print "Trust No AI" in lieu of an actual summary when asked to analyze a document. AI security researcher Johann Rehberger, who has identified numerous other prompt injection attacks on AI models and tools, published his own Google Docs-based prompt injection demonstration in which the "malicious" instructions change the browser mode from dark to light. The Register asked OpenAI to comment. A spokesperson pointed to a lengthy X post published Wednesday by Dane Stuckey, OpenAI's chief information security officer, that acknowledges the possibility of prompt injection and touches on various mitigation strategies. "One emerging risk we are very thoughtfully researching and mitigating is prompt injections, where attackers hide malicious instructions in websites, emails, or other sources, to try to trick the agent into behaving in unintended ways," Stuckey wrote. Stuckey said that OpenAI's long-term goal is for people to trust the ChatGPT agent as if it were a security-conscious friend or colleague and that the company is working to make that happen. The implication is that it's premature to trust Atlas. "For this launch, we've performed extensive red-teaming, implemented novel model training techniques to reward the model for ignoring malicious instructions, implemented overlapping guardrails and safety measures, and added new systems to detect and block such attacks," said Stuckey. "However, prompt injection remains a frontier, unsolved security problem, and our adversaries will spend significant time and resources to find ways to make ChatGPT agent fall for these attacks." Rehberger in an email said he expects to look at Atlas in more detail when he has some time. "At a high level prompt injection remains one of the top emerging threats in AI security, impacting confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, and the threat does not have a perfect mitigation - much like social engineering attacks against humans," he explained. "OpenAI has implemented guardrails and also security controls that make exploitation more challenging. However, carefully crafted content on websites (I call this offensive context engineering) can still trick ChatGPT Atlas into responding with attacker-controlled text or invoking tools to take actions. Yesterday, I showed a benign demo prank that illustrates this with ChatGPT Atlas by having a website change the window appearance of the browser when the user interacts with it." This is why, Rehberger said, implementing actual security controls downstream of LLM output, and not just guardrails, is essential, alongside human oversight. "Atlas also introduces new logged-in/logged-out modes to allow balancing some of the risks for users that understand the implications, giving them better control over data access," he said. "This is an interesting approach and it's clear that OpenAI is aware of the threat and is working on finding solutions to tackle this challenge." Rehberger said that it's still early in the development of agentic AI systems and a lot of the threats haven't even been discovered yet. In a preprint paper [PDF] published last December that describes how prompt injection undermines the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability) that represent the pillars of information security, Rehberger concludes, "Since there is no deterministic solution for prompt injection, it is important to highlight and document security guarantees applications can make, especially when building automated systems that process untrusted data. The message, often used in the author's exploit demonstration remains: Trust No AI." ®

OpenAI Is Launching an AI Web Browser Called ChatGPT Atlas

Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing. OpenAI is releasing a generative AI-powered web browser, which marks a big step in the company's expansion beyond its ChatGPT chatbot platform. The browser, announced Tuesday, integrates ChatGPT's capabilities directly into the browsing experience, aiming to make web use more interactive and chatbot-like. OpenAI sparked speculation earlier Tuesday after posting a cryptic teaser on its X account showing a series of browser tabs. The description for its YouTube livestream said CEO Sam Altman and others would announce the browser, dubbed ChatGPT Atlas, and that it would initially be available for MacOS users worldwide. Support for Windows, iOS and Android operating systems is "coming soon." The new product launch comes amid growing competition among tech companies to embed AI assistants more deeply into everyday tools. For instance, Google has already integrated Gemini into its Chrome browser to add AI to the online browsing experience and earlier this year, Perplexity launched Comet, an AI-powered Chromium-based web browser. Altman posted on X, saying the event will unveil "a new product I'm quite excited about."

OpenAI to launch Atlas web browser

OpenAI has launched a web browser as it seeks to compete with Big Tech groups such as Google and its biggest investor Microsoft to control the tools people use to access the internet. The browser, called Atlas, includes a ChatGPT interface that allows users to ask questions of the chatbot more easily alongside what they are viewing on their desktop, the company said on Tuesday. OpenAI also previewed an 'agent mode', in which artificial intelligence can take control of the cursor and keyboard and complete tasks on the computer -- such as booking tickets or conducting research -- based on user instructions. Atlas will be released to Mac users initially, OpenAI said, with plans to roll out the browser to Windows desktop and mobile devices in future. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, said: "We think that AI represents a rare once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one, and how to most productively and pleasantly use the web." The launch underscores the company's attempt to draw in more users, beyond the 800mn people who use ChatGPT weekly. It has been exploring ways to monetise its free users and draw in additional revenues. Creating its own browser will give OpenAI a more direct relationship with its users, many of whom access ChatGPT on browsers controlled by Google and Microsoft. ChatGPT already has its own mobile app. With permission, ChatGPT will also use information from users' web history on the browser to give more relevant answers and suggestions, the company said. Fidji Simo, chief executive of applications for OpenAI, said: "Over time, we see ChatGPT evolving to become the operating system for your life: a fully connected hub that helps you manage your day and achieve your long-term goals." Several companies have integrated AI into browsers. Google launched its Gemini chatbot in Chrome last month, and search start-up Perplexity released its Comet AI browser in July. Microsoft, OpenAI's largest financial backer, also announced a rollout of an AI Copilot Mode into its Edge browser in July. OpenAI's move marks a particular challenge to Google, whose dominance of search and the web browser market is the cornerstone of its business. Google shares dropped as much as 3 per cent following the news, while Microsoft dipped less than 1 per cent. The launch comes a few months after OpenAI said it would consider a bid for Google's Chrome browser if a US court required it to be sold as part of a monopoly case. A district judge last month ruled Google did not have to sell Chrome, citing the competition posed by AI and chatbots including ChatGPT.

OpenAI's long-awaited browser is finally here, and you might be able to try it today

Even though there's practically a new AI tool launching every day, OpenAI's ChatGPT is still most people's go-to. And despite there being arguably better alternatives out there, it continues to dominate the conversation. If you've been keeping up with the AI world lately, you've probably noticed the big thing right now is AI-powered browsers. While companies like Opera and Perplexity beat OpenAI to the punch, the company actually announced a prototype of its own search engine back in July 2024. Today, that prototype has finally evolved into a full-fledged browser, and it's (sort of) available to try. OpenAI's new Atlas browser brings ChatGPT to every tab OpenAI's long-rumored AI-powered browser is finally out today, and it's called ChatGPT Atlas. The browser is the company's latest move to challenge Google's grip on how we search the web. As you'd expect, it's powered by ChatGPT at its core and comes with a range of smart features designed to change how you browse, search, and get things done online. With the browser, ChatGPT is present whenever you're using it. OpenAI explains that it can help you right where you are and even understand the task you're trying to do, and complete it with you. The company says Atlas gets smarter and more helpful as you continue to use it, thanks to browser memories. This means Atlas is capable of remembering context from all the sites you visit and instantly bringing that context back to you when it's relevant. The company illustrated this with the following example in its blog post: This means you can ask ChatGPT questions like: "Find all the job postings I was looking at last week and create a summary of industry trends so I can prepare for interviews." When I first read this, I was instantly reminded of Microsoft's Recall feature -- the one that tried to remember everything you did on your PC. Fortunately, the feature is completely optional, and OpenAI claims you're always in control and can view or archive the memories whenever you want. ChatGPT Atlas brings true agentic browsing to your desktop My favorite feature in AI browsers is their ability to do tasks for you. Opera Neon's agentic mode is incredible, and Comet does a fine job as well. Norton's new AI browser, Neo, is missing one, but that's likely intentional. Unsurprisingly, ChatGPT is also capable of performing tasks for you, all thanks to its agent mode. Given that most people rely heavily on ChatGPT nowadays, being able to access it at all times with the click of a button, and it being able to understand the context of the webpage you're browsing instantly, is reason enough to make Atlas worth checking out. It removes the back and forth of switching between tabs or copying and pasting content just to ask a quick question. Everything happens right where you are. Surprisingly, ChatGPT Atlas is launching worldwide for all ChatGPT users, including those on the free plan. The only catch is that the browser is currently only available on macOS. However, the company has confirmed that the Windows, iOS, and Android versions are also coming soon. You can try the browser out yourself by clicking on this link.

OpenAI teases new features and fixes for ChatGPT Atlas

Less than two days ago, OpenAI came out swinging in the fight for the future of the internet with the release of ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser it hopes will topple Google Chrome. Adam Fry, OpenAI's Atlas leader, says the team is already "heads down making it better" and teased a bunch of new features on the way. "Profiles coming!" Fry said. Tab groups and an opt-in ad blocker are also on their way in the near future. The features, common to many popular internet browsers, were included on a list of "post-launch fixes" for Atlas that Fry posted on X. Most of these should land "over the coming weeks," he said, "though some may take a little longer." The list includes a series of quality of life upgrades like an overflow bookmarks menu and a list of shortcuts. Changes are also on the way to the browser's key AI features. This includes the agent -- which is only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users for now and can take actions for you -- and the Ask ChatGPT sidebar, which integrates the company's flagship chatbot. The agent will be getting better response times, a more reliable "pause" function, and improved integration with products like Google Drive and cloud Excel, Fry said. The sidebar will be easier to use without leaving and let users pick different projects or AI models directly without having to navigate away. "If you have more suggestions for us, let us know!" Fry said. His responses to suggestions indicate OpenAI already has a solid prototype that would let users directly copy and insert text from the Ask ChatGPT sidebar. He also said it would be a good idea if the browser automatically reopened pinned tabs when closing and restarting. Fry said the team is also working on some "specific," though unspecified, fixes for password manager 1Password. "There are other things we're working on, but those may involve partners, and we've left those off this list."

Is OpenAI's Atlas browser the Chrome killer we've been waiting for? Try it for yourself

OpenAI has finally released its long-awaited AI browser: ChatGPT Atlas. On Tuesday morning, the company announced its then-forthcoming 10 a.m PT/1p.m. ET livestream with an X post depicting a series of browser tabs. The title of the livestream link gave it away before the announcement even dropped, though the browser had already been rumored for months. ChatGPT Atlas joins an increasingly crowded slate of AI browsers: there's Perplexity's Comet, which it made free for all earlier this month, as well as Dia, which is also free, and, of course, Google Chrome, which recently got Gemini by default. Here's everything ChatGPT Atlas offers and who gets it first. Atlas integrates ChatGPT with your every search and tab. No more copying and pasting between tabs -- if you turn it on, ChatGPT will be accessible on any page you have open in Atlas and will use the context of that page to answer queries. During the livestream, the OpenAI team described Atlas as an AI browser built around ChatGPT, the goal being to allow users to speak with their browser in a way traditional browsers don't offer. In the upper right corner, you can click an "Ask ChatGPT" button at any time to open up the query window. In a demo, OpenAI showed a few uses for this higher level of integration: you can edit an email using ChatGPT directly in your Gmail drafts (a direct punch at Google Gemini), have the chatbot summarize a Slack channel if you've been viewing it in the browser, or ask it to analyze your Github repo. Product Lead Adam Fry noted that Atlas "should feel very familiar" to other browsers in that it has your standard tabs, bookmarks, and password autofilling capabilities. The interface is also reminiscent of ChatGPT's, with a model picker button at the top left and a sidebar showing your chat history. If you're querying ChatGPT in Atlas, once you click a link, Atlas will slide your ChatGPT chat window over to the right so you can view it alongside the web page -- a feature OpenAI called "side chat." When you conduct a search in ChatGPT, Atlas gives you multiple interface options to view the results in and toggle between: a classic ChatGPT results page, a traditional search engine list, a series of image tiles, a list of videos, or a series of news stories. OpenAI said Atlas leverages ChatGPT's memory functions, originally launched in April, to contextualize your queries and anticipate what you may be looking for. In one demo, Ryan O'Rouke showed how ChatGPT Memory can help if you've forgotten the name of a Google Doc you need or an article you didn't finish reading. He described what he was looking for in the search bar, and ChatGPT used its memories of his browser history to find the doc in question. OpenAI emphasized how, with access to memory, ChatGPT can personalize your Atlas homescreen using the context of your web history. You'll see search suggestions appear under the search bar in the center of the screen. "The more you use Atlas, the better these suggestions get," Fry explained. This feature, which is in preview, puts ChatGPT Agent directly in the browser. Users can select Agent Mode from the bottom left of the side chat, and it will use your browser for you and even take action based on the permissions you've set for it. In a demo, OpenAI told Agent Mode to assign tasks to team members for a project, and it began using the cursor to take action. In another example, Agent Mode scaled a recipe grocery list for a larger number of people and then ordered the groceries for them via Instacart autonomously, stopping right before hitting checkout so that the demoer could approve and finalize the order himself. Agent Mode is only available to Plus and Pro users. Agent Mode can run these tasks in the background while you use other tabs or even leave your computer. OpenAI noted during the livestream that you can take control over what Agent Mode is doing at any time, and it's restricted to what's in your tabs -- it can't access or act on anything else on your computer. You can also decide tab by tab whether Agent is logged in or out. As for Browser Memory, as is already standard in ChatGPT, you can turn off the feature or open an incognito tab if you'd prefer not to have ChatGPT remember your browser history. ChatGPT Atlas is available globally starting today for macOS users, but access for Windows, iOS, and Android users is coming soon. Mac users can download the browser here.

Watch Your Wallet: ChatGPT Atlas Might Try to Buy the Wrong Product for You

Emily is an experienced reporter who covers cutting-edge tech, from AI and EVs to brain implants. She stays grounded by hiking and playing guitar. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. OpenAI on Tuesday debuted its long-awaited AI browser, ChatGPT Atlas, but one company executive is now warning that it may not always do what you want it to. AI browsers promise to take routine actions on the web for you, such as scheduling meetings or buying groceries on Instacart. But they're far from perfect. "ChatGPT agent is powerful and helpful, and designed to be safe, but it can still make (sometimes surprising!) mistakes, like trying to buy the wrong product or forgetting to check in with you before taking an important action," OpenAI Chief Information Security Officer Dane Stuckey wrote on X. Of concern are prompt injection attacks, or when a hacker embeds "malicious instructions in websites, emails, or other sources, to try to trick [an AI] agent into behaving in unintended ways." This is a known risk with all AI browsers, including Anthropic's Claude computer, Google's Gemini on Chrome, and Perplexity's Comet AI browser. Since large language models (LLMs) cannot determine the intent behind web content, they may encounter hacker-planted instructions on the internet and execute those requests. "The objective for attackers can be as simple as trying to bias the agent's opinion while shopping, or as consequential as an attacker trying to get the agent to fetch and leak private data, such as sensitive information from your email, or credentials," Stuckey says. OpenAI is "very thoughtfully researching and mitigating" this risk, Stuckey adds, though he notes hackers may find new ways to influence AI agents. Researchers at Brave Software, which develops the privacy-focused Brave browser, discovered that hackers can embed secret instructions into images to deliver a prompt injection attack via Perplexity's Comet, for example. These attacks could erode consumer trust in AI browsers and threaten a much-needed revenue stream for OpenAI. "As with computer viruses in the early 2000s, we think it's important for everyone to understand responsible usage, including thinking about prompt injection attacks, so we can all learn to benefit from this technology safely," Stuckey says. "We are excited to see how ChatGPT agent will empower your workflows in Atlas, and are resolute in our mission to build the most secure, private, and safe AI technologies for the benefit of all humanity." ChatGPT Atlas is currently only available on macOS. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

OpenAI launches an AI-powered browser: ChatGPT Atlas | TechCrunch

OpenAI announced Tuesday the launch of its AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, a major step in the company's quest to unseat Google as the main way people find information online. The company says Atlas will first roll out on MacOS, with support for Windows, iOS and Android coming soon. OpenAI says the product will be available to all free users at launch. Browsers have quickly become the AI industry's next battleground. While Google Chrome has long dominated the space, there's a sense that AI chatbots and agents are fundamentally changing how people get work done online. A handful of startups have tried to capture this by launching AI-powered browsers of their own, such as Perplexity's Comet and The Browser Company's Dia. Google and Microsoft have also tried to update Chrome and Edge, respectively, with AI-powered features to make their legacy products stand out. OpenAI's Engineering Lead for Atlas, Ben Goodger, said in a livestream Tuesday that ChatGPT is core to the company's first browser. Users in ChatGPT Atlas can chat with their search results, much like in Perplexity or in Google's AI Mode. The killer feature for other AI-powered browsers has been the built-in chatbot that sits in a side panel and automatically has context for whatever's on your screen. It may sound minor, but many users spend all day copying and pasting text or dragging files and links into ChatGPT, just to provide context. The sidecar feature removes that friction, and makes for a smoother user experience. OpenAI's Product Lead Adam Fry said during the livestream that ChatGPT Atlas will have context for everything you're doing online, too. Further, ChatGPT Atlas has "browser history," meaning that ChatGPT can now log the websites you visit and what you do on them, and use that information to make its answers more personalized. AI-powered browsers also commonly feature an AI agent that aim to automate web-based tasks on behalf of users. In TechCrunch's testing, we've found the early versions of web-browsing AI agents leave something to be desired. While Perplexity's Comet and OpenAI's ChatGPT agent work well for simple tasks, they struggle to reliably automate the more cumbersome problems users might want to offload to an AI system. Sure enough, OpenAI's browser has a web-browsing agent too. By using "agent mode," users can ask their browser to complete small tasks in the browser on their behalf. In an interview at OpenAI's DevDay conference, Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley told TechCrunch that he's inspired by the way browsers have redefined what an operating system can look like. Turley noted that browsers have revolutionized the way people get work done online, and he thinks ChatGPT is a similar phenomenon. Whether OpenAI's browser can put a dent in Google Chrome, which has more than three billion users around the globe, remains to be seen. AI browsers are quite buzzy in Silicon Valley today, but their impact in the broader world is quite small today.

I tried ChatGPT's Atlas browser to rival Google - here's what I found

The firm has convinced venture capitalists and investors to back it with billions of dollars - and at some point, it needs to start showing a return on that investment. But raising money the internet's traditional way - advertising - might be a risk. "OpenAI may be tempted to show ads to recoup costs and turn a profit, but it also must deliver a good user experience to stand out in a competitive market," said Stephanie Liu, a senior analyst at Forrester. OpenAI will be hoping its users will find it so good they are willing to start paying - but only about 5% of ChatGPT users pay for a subscription, according to the Financial Times. The other thing Atlas could do is give the firm access to a huge amount of user data. These kinds of AI tools are ultimately about scale - the more data you feed them, the thinking goes, the better they will become. The web is designed for humans to use, so if Atlas can monitor us - how we book train tickets for example - it can learn how to better navigate these kinds of processes. "It remains to be seen how OpenAI will use users' data from Atlas, but for users who prefer anonymity and privacy, the browser may be too great of a risk," said Ms Liu.

OpenAI Wants to Cure Cancer. So Why Did It Make a Web Browser?

According to Sam Altman, your web browser is outdated. "AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be," OpenAI's CEO said yesterday when announcing the company's latest product: ChatGPT Atlas. In this new AI-powered browser, ChatGPT becomes the central mechanism for surfing the internet. From any webpage in Atlas, you can click an "Ask ChatGPT" button to open a side conversation with the chatbot. Want cooking inspiration? Atlas can pull from recipes you've recently viewed through its "browser memories" feature -- no need to personally dig up the NYT Cooking recipe you opened and closed last week. And as Altman and his colleagues were eager to show off while introducing Atlas yesterday, the browser has an "agent" mode, in which ChatGPT can use the web for you. For instance, it can in theory research and (with your permission) book a vacation. Given all these big promises, I was struck, when I tried Atlas for myself, by how much the experience simply felt like browsing the internet. Fire up the browser and Atlas opens ChatGPT in a new tab -- exactly what Chrome does with Google. (Atlas is built on Chromium, the same open-source browser project developed by Google that is the foundation for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.) Clicking on the "Ask ChatGPT" button in Atlas was akin to using any other browser and opening up ChatGPT. The browser memories are similar to the "memory" feature already built into ChatGPT. I have found agent mode, if impressive, extremely slow and buggy, and it has been a stand-alone feature in ChatGPT since this summer. OpenAI's bold attempt to rethink how people use the internet boils down to a fairly ordinary web browser that eliminates the already tiny amount of friction needed to navigate to ChatGPT.com. The point is, fairly explicitly, to bring ChatGPT deeper into people's lives. An OpenAI spokesperson pointed me to a Substack post written by Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of applications, announcing Atlas. The tool, Simo notes, "makes it easier for more people to tap into the potential of AI." Still, launching a web browser feels out of sync with the way OpenAI fashions itself as a revolutionary AI lab, not a traditional tech company. OpenAI is controlled by a nonprofit whose founding mission is to ensure that superpowerful AI "benefits all of humanity." Only a month ago, Altman said in an interview that OpenAI could one day use a large city's worth of electricity to power AI data centers that can "cure cancer" or "offer free education to everybody on Earth." Since then, his company has launched Sora 2, an AI-video generating app with an interface almost identical to TikTok's; described a coming update to ChatGPT that will allow adults to create erotica; further teased an AI device made in collaboration with Apple's former top designer, Jony Ive; debuted "Instant Checkout" while shopping inside of ChatGPT; and now launched a web browser that looks similar to Google Chrome. OpenAI may have little choice but to undergo this commercial lurch. Yes, superintelligence may eventually bring the firm unimaginable riches. But for now, building extremely capable AI models is incredibly expensive -- and, at the moment, incredibly unprofitable. OpenAI, according to reporting from The Information, lost billions of dollars in the first half of 2025 and expects cash burn to hit $115 billion by 2029. (OpenAI and The Atlantic have a corporate partnership.) To fund further AI development, OpenAI is looking to old revenue streams in Silicon Valley: social-media apps, e-commerce, web browsers, personal devices. (Which map, more or less, to Meta, Amazon, Google, and Apple.) "We do mostly need the capital for build AI that can do science," Altman recently wrote on X about OpenAI's commercial endeavors, adding that it is "nice to show people cool new tech/products along the way, make them smile, and hopefully make some money given all that compute need." The rest of the AI industry has done the same. Google has been rapidly integrating its chatbot, Gemini, into many of its apps and services, including the Chrome browser. OpenAI's other top rival, Anthropic, is piloting a Chrome extension to integrate its own chatbot, Claude, into the browser. Apple and Meta, too, are integrating AI throughout their products. Earlier this month, Meta announced that it would run personalized ads drawing from users' chats with its AI tools. But compared with some other AI companies, it's less clear how OpenAI will generate revenue from most of these endeavors. There are no ads in Sora, for instance, nor in the Atlas browser, although Altman said on a recent podcast that he is open to introducing them. The computational cost of generating lots of videos or processing people's daily web interactions could be tremendous. OpenAI does use some of your interactions inside of Atlas to improve future models (which users can opt into or out of for various types of data). The breadth and granularity of information available from how people search and navigate the web -- data that Google, one of OpenAI's top competitors, already has access to -- could be invaluable for developing future chatbots. Right now, Atlas's agent mode remains slow and, at times, frustrating; given many more user interactions to train on, future versions could become swift and convenient. OpenAI says that ChatGPT Atlas is intended to spread the benefits of AI; conveniently, this noble aim also involves hoovering up more data and setting up new potential revenue streams. Perhaps revolutionary AI lab and traditional tech giant were never all that distinct. Several years ago, Altman said in an interview that "we have no idea how we may one day generate revenue," but that once OpenAI has built a "generally intelligent system, basically we will ask it to figure out a way to generate an investment return." Until he builds that digital genie, Altman must instead look to his Silicon Valley forebears -- all their gadgets and apps and subscription fees and ads -- to figure out how to run a profitable business. Even as Altman pitches a science-fictional future, his company is chained to products and business models from the recent technological past.

OpenAI puts ChatGPT into Atlas browser in bid to rethink web

Why experience the web for yourself when there's so much privacy to surrender? In a bid to grab even more eyeballs, OpenAI has finally released Atlas, its long-teased, ChatGPT-powered web browser. Surfing the web may never be the same now that a bot is doing it for you - while training itself at the same time. Released on Tuesday for macOS, OpenAI's Atlas offers the ability to direct ChatGPT via text or voice to interact with web content and to navigate through websites. (Atlas for Android, iOS, and Windows is expected soon.) In a livestream presentation, OpenAI CEO and AI hypemaster Sam Altman said that Atlas represents an opportunity to "rethink what a browser can be about." In this case, "rethink" means allowing ChatGPT to observe, mediate, and direct browsing sessions. "With Atlas, ChatGPT can come with you anywhere across the web - helping you in the window right where you are, understanding what you're trying to do, and completing tasks for you, all without copying and pasting or leaving the page," OpenAI enthused in a blog post. "Your ChatGPT memory is built in, so conversations can draw on past chats and details to help you get new things done." As described in the release notes, Atlas makes ChatGPT available in a sidebar to analyze or summarize webpage content. ChatGPT can also be invoked from within form fields loaded in an Atlas-rendered page. Users have the option to enable browser memories - past browsing history - and to deny ChatGPT access to specific sites. Plus, Pro, and Business users have access to agent mode, which enables Atlas to perform more complicated multi-step functions. "In agent mode, ChatGPT can complete end to end tasks for you like researching a meal plan, making a list of ingredients, and adding the groceries to a shopping cart ready for delivery," the release notes explain, adding that ChatGPT will ask before taking important actions and can be interrupted. This is a reasonable attempt to prevent the AI model from accidentally purchasing two tons of creamed corn and making other unexpected decisions. As with rival Perplexity's Comet browser, which debuted in July, OpenAI's hope is that web users will delegate their interactions with websites to AI agents that act on their behalf, even making purchases. But OpenAI also wants to ensure that ChatGPT, the big behemoth of bots, has access to the largest possible audience. Browsers represent the primary consumer access point for the web, and browser makers like Google and Microsoft have been integrating favored AI services to promote usage. Google has built Gemini into Chrome while Microsoft has integrated Copilot with Edge. Smaller browser companies like Brave and Opera have taken similar steps, while Mozilla is offering a choice of AI models in Firefox. Only Vivaldi has refrained from bot bombing its customers. It's not obvious that Atlas will do much to change AI market share. As noted in VC firm Menlo Ventures' State of Consumer AI Report 2025, "About a quarter of Americans report using ChatGPT (28 percent) or Google Gemini (23 percent) in the past six months, indicating that consumer adoption today is largely driven by embedded products with existing distribution." It's hard to get people to change their habits. Owning a browser may also prove useful for OpenAI if it chooses to enter the online ad business - a scenario that Altman previously dismissed and now looks more likely. With OpenAI losing money at such a rapid rate, expect that ad revenue will get a serious look. As a browser, Atlas has a few quirks. It offers Developer Tools via the View menu, but they can't be opened on a New Tab page - presumably because the default ChatGPT input box is not structured as a web page. And if you try to get rid of the suggested prompts that load in a New Tab window, the suggestions reappear upon reload. Atlas is based on Google's Chromium open source project and it does support Chrome extensions. Unlike Google's own Chrome browser, which (for now) offers a way to disable AI Mode via , there's no settings page to turn off ChatGPT. But then that may be the point. OpenAI very much wants people to set Atlas as their default browser and has gone so far as to offer increased ChatGPT usage limits for those who keep Atlas set as the default for seven consecutive calendar days. The release notes include a section titled "Privacy and data controls," which is noteworthy, because at launch there's no Privacy menu in the Atlas settings. The release notes also claim that "By default, we don't use the content you browse to train our models." That was not this reporter's experience - upon installing and opening Atlas for the first time, the menu Data Controls -> Model improvement defaulted to "On." "On" means "Allow your content to be used to train our models, which makes ChatGPT better for everyone who uses it. We take steps to protect your privacy. Learn more." It's perhaps worth noting that the statement "We take steps to protect your privacy" rivals "Security, we've heard of it" and "Your call is very important to us" as vague, non-binding commitments. Still, OpenAI acknowledges that there are some potential concerns. "Despite all of the power and awesome capabilities that you get with sharing your browser with ChatGPT, that also poses an entirely new set of risks," said Pranav Vishnu, product lead for ChatGPT Atlas, during the video presentation. Vishnu said that's why Atlas comes with limitations like only being able to operate on your tabs and not being able to execute code on your computer or access local files. Simon Willison, a widely-followed open source developer, opined in a blog post that he continues to find browser agents deeply confusing. "The security and privacy risks involved here still feel insurmountably high to me - I certainly won't be trusting any of these products until a bunch of security researchers have given them a very thorough beating," he wrote, adding that he also finds AI browsers "pretty unexciting to use." ®

I refuse to install ChatGPT's new web browser, and you shoudn't switch from Chrome either

Would you trust an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Gemini with your emails, financial data, or even browsing habits and data? Most of us would probably answer no to that question, and yet that's exactly what companies like OpenAI and Perplexity are asking us to do with their new AI browsers, Atlas and Comet. OpenAI's Atlas is a new browser with ChatGPT built-in, and it goes much further than Google's addition of Gemini to Chrome. Atlas has agentic capabilities meaning the AI can surf the internet on your behalf by opening tabs, navigating to specific websites, clicking on buttons, and even filling in text fields. If that sounds like a potential game-changer, I'd like to temper that excitement because it's also a big security gamble. Here's why I'm not switching to Atlas in a hurry.

OpenAI's New Browser Raises 'Insurmountably High' Security Concerns

Yesterday, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT Atlas browserâ€"a supposedly reimagined web browser that actually looks a lot more like a forked version of Chromium with a chatbot bolted onâ€"in an effort to redefine the way that people navigate the internet. It's not clear that it'll accomplish that, but it has been innovative in one way already: It's launched a whole new set of concerns about online privacy and security. It's not too hard to imagine why OpenAI wanted to build a web browser: it's the data. Browsers contain massive amounts of information, from the sites people visit to their passwords and payment information to telemetry data on where they click. OpenAI has positioned that as a feature. "Memories" is like your web history on steroids, able to recall contextual information about the sites you visit, documents you interact with, and more. The idea is that users will be able to navigate the web via a conversational interface that can find information described in human language rather than precise URLs or keywords. But, as the Washington Post points out, the browser's privacy and data controls reveal more about what the company is collecting and storing, and it raises more than a few concerning implications. Memories are on by default, so OpenAI is saving details about the sites you visit, the way you interact with them, and your preferences right out of the box. It is not supposed to remember certain information, including personally identifiable information like government IDs, Social Security numbers, bank account details, online credentials, account recovery content, and addresses. It also has filters to exclude private data like medical records and financial information. While it keeps summaries of the sites you visit, it won't save those from "certain sensitive websites (like adult sites)," continuing OpenAI's ongoing display of porn brain. Users can also choose to individually exclude certain pages by clicking a "page visibility" button in the address bar. That, of course, assumes everything works the way it is intendedâ€"which isn't always the case. ChatGPT Atlas also includes an AI agent that can browse the web and complete tasks on behalf of the user. Previous browsers have run into real trouble with that. Earlier this year, Perplexity’s Comet browser fell victim to simple prompt injection attacks, in which hidden text on a website could effectively hijack the agent. In a demonstration, security researchers were able to get the agent to reveal a person's login credentials and retrieve and share an authentication code. Programmer Simon Willison raised alarm bells about this. In a blog post, he wrote, "I'd like to see a deep explanation of the steps Atlas takes to avoid prompt injection attacks. Right now it looks like the main defense is expecting the user to carefully watch what agent mode is doing at all times!" He also called the security and privacy risks associated with browser agents broadly as seeming "insurmountably high." At least one hacker has already claimed to have knocked Atlas off its tracks. Twitter user @elder_plinius showed how the Atlas Agent is susceptible to "clipboard injection," getting the Agent to copy a malicious link that will later lead the user to a phishing site that steals credentials. Eight Sleep did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gizmodo will update this post when we receive a reply. It took less than 24 hours for someone to find a crack, however small, in Atlas. Experts are warning that there may be canyon-sized privacy and security holes in AI browsers like Atlas. Meanwhile, Atlas collects more information about users and their habits and creates an even more sophisticated surveillance apparatus around them in the name of personalization. Seems like a potentially disastrous combination.

Column | ChatGPT just came out with its own web browser. Use it with caution.

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has launched a web browser called Atlas. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) The maker of the world's most popular chatbot, ChatGPT, launched a web browser this week that promises to make surfing the internet smarter. In exchange, ChatGPT Atlas wants permission to watch -- and remember -- everything you do online. The browser from OpenAI out-surveils even Google Chrome, and that's saying something. It doesn't just log which websites you visit, it also stores "memories" of what you look at and do on those sites. It can even grab control of your mouse and browse for you. It's too early to evaluate whether Atlas's new artificial intelligence capabilities are useful enough to make it worth all the data gathering. But the implications for privacy are vast, and the controls for managing what Atlas remembers are confusing at best. There's a lot at stake in which browser you choose. It's your daily portal to the internet -- a spigot of lucrative information that companies can use to target you with ads, steer you toward certain sites and train AI on your behaviors and interests. OpenAI isn't alone in trying to reinvent browsers with AI. Search engine Perplexity makes a browser called Comet, and Google has in recent months added its Gemini bot to Chrome -- and says it will soon also add agent capabilities that let AI do tasks for you. (The Washington Post has partnerships with OpenAI and Perplexity.) So what does Atlas actually do? It replaces Google with ChatGPT as the main source to find websites and information. An "Ask ChatGPT" button in the upper right lets you chat with the bot about pages you're viewing. For instance, you could ask it to summarize an article or analyze data. And it puts ChatGPT one click away for tasks like revising email drafts. "The goal was to make it easier for ChatGPT to work alongside you as you browse the web," said Adam Fry, OpenAI's Atlas product lead. But reviewing Atlas's privacy practices and controls revealed something darker. Behind the scenes, it is working to learn much more about you. If you grant permission during setup, the browser builds a trove of memories about sites you visit and surfaces them "when you need it." You could tell Atlas: "Open the Halloween decorations I was looking at last week in some tabs," and it could do it. Atlas remembers not just website addresses, but "facts and insights" from the sites themselves based on summaries of the content OpenAI makes on its own servers. It might remember you have a trip coming up, prefer Delta Air Lines and use Google Calendar, said Fry. These memories shape your experience across the browser. ChatGPT tailors its responses to your Atlas memories in future chats. And the browser's home screen offers personalized suggestions of things you should do next, such as "find a vegetarian recipe." (By contrast, Google's Chrome doesn't let Gemini store memories about the contents of webpages. But Gemini can -- if you ask it to -- answer questions about your web browsing history.) That level of personalization brings privacy risks that are hard to understand, much less control. There are things you might want an AI to remember and bring up again in the future -- and things you definitely wouldn't, like relationship troubles or that embarrassing medical condition you researched at 2 a.m. The details of what Atlas will or won't remember get confusing fast. OpenAI says memories could include tasks you're working on and your preferences, but not entire page contents. Atlas isn't supposed to remember government IDs, bank account numbers, addresses, passwords, medical records and financial information. (And they thought of one other worry: It also won't attempt to remember the content of adult websites.) You can control Atlas's memories, but it takes effort. In the address bar, you can tell Atlas not to remember certain websites. Clearing your browsing history is supposed to clear memories from that period. In settings, Atlas shows a list of its memories, which you can delete individually or all at once. But this memory file is separate from the one ChatGPT already keeps about you. Atlas offers an "incognito" mode that doesn't add to your history or memories. But like Chrome's misleadingly named mode, it doesn't actually hide you from other websites or even from ChatGPT itself. Companies love to claim they give users control over data collection. But offering scattered privacy settings isn't the same as meaningful control. A 747 aircraft has lots of controls, too -- that doesn't mean anyone can fly it. "We are using memory specifically to enhance the product features of Atlas -- not for anything else," Fry said. "The way we use data here is pretty different from social media companies that build interest profiles." OpenAI also does not have an advertising business, he said. Yet. In one area, Atlas takes a more conservative approach. By default, it doesn't use the contents of your browser for training its AI -- though there's a setting to turn that on if you want. (This is separate from whether your ChatGPT conversations can be used for training, which does happen by default.) Atlas also introduces new risks by letting AI operate your browser for you. These agents can go on shopping hunts or, as I wrote recently, help you quit subscriptions. But AI agents are still prone to mistakes -- and when an agent has access to a browser with your log-in credentials and payment info, that's a lot of power to hand over. Fry said Atlas lets people use agent mode in a completely cleared-out version of the browser. And certain high-risk tasks involving money only happen in a mode where the user is supposed to monitor what the AI is doing. Browsers have evolved from simple windows to the web into sophisticated data-collection tools. Atlas might make browsing more convenient -- but only if you're comfortable letting AI deep into your life.

ChatGPT's Atlas browser is gunning for Chrome's crown

It might be hard to remember, but when Google's Chrome web browser made its debut, it was such a breath of fresh air compared to the browsers of the time, which had been around for over a decade without many changes. It's gone on to become a big part of the web browsing experience for many, and Microsoft's once dominant web browser, Internet Explorer, has pretty much been forgotten. While it was apparent that Chrome would be sticking around for some time, the tides could be shifting in 2025, with OpenAI's latest product, the ChatGPT Atlas browser, which is now making its debut. This new browser puts ChatGPT by your side at all times when surfing the web, enhancing any experiences that you're having with the AI tools you really need. This could be the start of something big For the most part, we knew this was coming, reporting all the way back in 2024 about the OpenAI working on a browser. At the time, it was rumored that OpenAI had hired former Chrome developers to work on their browser product, and now a year later, we're seeing the first product come to light in the form of the Atlas browser. The benefit of having ChatGPT in your browser is that it can now work on any website you visit. It becomes a valuable tool on any website, and it also takes away the pain of copying and pasting the data from one platform to another. Naturally, ChatGPT will be able to keep all your past interactions stored in order to recall them when needed. The company shares that you're welcome to scrub these "memories" from the browser if you don't need them in order to create a more private experience. The brand also shares that Agent Mode is available in the browser for Pro, Plus, and Business subscribers. It's easy to see why something like this could become a tipping point, with the news already affecting Google's business directly. The only downside is that it's only available for macOS today, with releases for Windows, Android, and iOS coming in the future. But, if you have a macOS device, you can now download the browser to give it a try. And if you want to see more before you give it a go, OpenAI has a full website showcasing all its abilities.

OpenAI Wants to Slurp Up Your Browsing Data and Not Pay You for It

Summary ChatGPT Atlas: macOS browser with integrated ChatGPT that reads pages and uses chat history Browser memories store site context for cross-session queries, but are optional and user-controlled Agent mode can act for you (clicks/forms), but agentic AI is flaky and vulnerable to malicious sites OpenAI has, so far, stuck to making various LLMs and AI models and one consumer product: ChatGPT. It now wants to try browsers, though I'm not sure if you should try this one out. OpenAI announced ChatGPT Atlas, a new web browser for macOS (it will eventually make landfall on Windows and mobile phones too) that, as you might expect, integrates ChatGPT right into its core. More AI. Yay. OpenAI promises that its AI can interact with web content in real-time. Unlike the existing method of copying and pasting information into a separate ChatGPT window, Atlas enables the AI to "see" the content on a user's current page. This allows for in-context queries, summaries, and analysis without leaving your active tab. The browser also incorporates the user's existing ChatGPT chat history, allowing the AI to draw upon previous conversations to inform its responses. One feature that Atlas introduced is "browser memories." When enabled, this function allows ChatGPT to remember information and context from websites a user visits. This retained context can then be used to answer complex, cross-sessional questions. For example, you could ask the browser to "summarize industry trends based on the job postings I viewed last week." According to OpenAI, this feature is optional and user-controlled. You can view, archive, or delete all browser memories, and clearing the browser history will also erase any associated memories. Furthermore, users can prevent ChatGPT from seeing specific sites using a toggle in the address bar. Of course, it couldn't be an AI browser without an "agent mode." Available in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business subscribers, this feature allows ChatGPT to take direct action on a user's behalf. It can autonomously navigate websites, click buttons, and fill out forms to complete multi-step tasks. The company provided examples such as providing the agent with a recipe and instructing it to order all the necessary ingredients from an online grocery store, or tasking it with compiling a competitive research brief from various team documents and public websites. This is something that's coming to some degree to browsers like Chrome and is already live in other browsers such as Opera Neon. This is a browser built with AI in mind. If you've read some of my articles before, you'd know I'm not actually against the idea of AI in browsers -- if done right, it could be genuinely helpful. Sadly, though, despite multiple attempts, agentic AI is not great and is prone to issues. Back when ChatGPT first showed its agentic AI capabilities, the first demos and user tests hilariously fell apart whenever a reviewer would ask it to do something outside of the very few test scenarios OpenAI envisioned internally, struggling to do simple things such as buying a white T-shirt for the user. I'm sure it's gotten better, but maybe not to the point where you want your whole browser to depend on those capabilities. Just saying. According to OpenAI, it doesn't train its models on your browsing data, but you can opt into this. You better keep that toggle disabled, though, because that could be disastrous. And to add insult to injury, some malicious websites have caught onto AI agents and will try to manipulate them with hidden instructions. OpenAI has apparently not worked around this at all, because it's warning users about this and advises them to remain vigilant, monitor the agent's activities, and consider using it in a logged-out mode to limit its access to sensitive accounts. So, you know. That's fun. Source: OpenAI

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas brings power of AI straight to your browser

With Atlas, ChatGPT can understand what a user is viewing and assist in real time. OpenAI is taking the next step in AI-powered productivity with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser built around ChatGPT. The new platform integrates the AI directly into the browser, allowing users to interact with ChatGPT without leaving the pages they are browsing. With Atlas, ChatGPT can understand what a user is viewing and assist in real time. Tasks that once required copying and pasting between applications, such as research or data compilation, can now be handled directly within the browser.

OpenAI's AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, is here

"Agent mode" within ChatGPT Atlas clearly builds on OpenAI's past forays into agentic AI, such as its Operator tool, an early version of a tool allowing ChatGPT to use a computer on a user's behalf, and ChatGPT Agent, the next iteration, which was designed to be able to complete more complex tasks, shop, and more (though it wasn't always successful in that realm). Whenever you click a link from a search result in Atlas, it'll by default show a split-screen with the webpage and the ChatGPT transcript, with the goal being to display a "companion" at all times, employees said, though a user can turn off the split-screen if they'd rather. On the livestream, employees also demonstrated the browser's summarization features for webpages, as well as selecting text from an email and clicking a button to have ChatGPT tidy up the sentence in-line -- the latter feature is called "cursor chat."

OpenAI's Chrome Killer Is Here: Meet the ChatGPT Atlas Browser

When he's not battling bugs and robots in Helldivers 2, Michael is reporting on AI, satellites, cybersecurity, PCs, and tech policy. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. OpenAI jumped into the browser wars today with ChatGPT Atlas, which puts AI at the center of your web surfing, but only on macOS to start. Atlas is built on Google's Chromium engine and operates like other browsers, offering traditional features such as tabs, bookmarks, password autofill, and an incognito mode. Still, it promises to stand out from the competition by integrating OpenAI's chatbot into the browsing experience. That means users will no longer need to copy and paste information from the web to the ChatGPT app or domain. Instead, easy access to the company's chatbot is baked in across the browser's interface, tabs, and the cursor pointer. OpenAI demonstrated this in a live stream, showing that you can highlight some text in your email inbox, click the "ChatGPT nub," and ask the chatbot to improve some pre-written text in an email. In addition, the browser features a dedicated "Ask ChatGPT" button in the upper right-hand corner, which opens a sidebar to the chatbot -- allowing it to view the web page you're looking at and provide helpful answers. This can include summarizing a movie review on the left-hand side or analyzing some computer code, although OpenAI's demo showed the result might not always be accurate, meaning you'll need to watch out for hallucinations. Another notable change is that internet queries in the URL bar can default to ChatGPT's search engine, which organizes results across categories, including text, images, videos, and news articles. The ChatGPT Atlas homepage is also designed with a recommendation engine that'll present websites and content for you to view based on your browsing habits. "If you turn on browser memories, ChatGPT will remember key details from content you browse to improve chat responses and offer smarter suggestions -- like creating a to-do list from your recent activity or continuing to research holiday gifts based on products you've viewed," the company wrote in a blog post. The browser memories feature also raises questions about privacy. A support page says ChatGPT Atlas's browser data can be used to improve the company's AI models, but the feature is off by default. "Browser memories do not include your passwords or payment details, and they are separate from cookies and site storage," the company added, noting that users can also delete browser memories. During the live stream, an OpenAI staffer said the product's most powerful feature is an AI "agent mode" that can take control of a browser tab and execute a task for you -- so long as you give it permission. In a demo, the agent mode was able to develop a list of the ingredients necessary for a recipe, access the user's Instacart account, and place them all on the add-to-cart page for checkout. That said, the process took a few minutes to complete. To guard against the AI making mistakes or posing a security risk, the agent mode only has access to browser tabs and has been blocked from executing computer code or accessing files on your PC. "You're always in control: ChatGPT is trained to ask before taking many important actions, and you can pause, interrupt, or take over the browser at any time," the company adds. For now, the agent mode is only available for paid users who've subscribed to ChatGPT Plus and Pro. We'll be curious to see how ChatGPT Atlas performs and if it can disrupt Google's dominance of the web browser market. Currently, Google Chrome has a 71% share of the browser market, with Apple's Safari a far-off second, according to StatCounter. Google is already integrating its Gemini chatbot into Chrome, while Microsoft has also been doing something similar with its Copilot AI across the Windows OS and in Edge. OpenAI says it plans on expanding ChatGPT Atlas to Windows, iOS, and Android "soon." A support page also notes that ChatGPT Atlas can import data from other browsers.

OpenAI launches its own free 'Atlas' browser with ChatGPT built-in

It's yet another Chromium fork, except this one comes integrated with ChatGPT. It even has agentic features for paid users. OpenAI recently launched ChatGPT Atlas, which is "a new web browser built with ChatGPT at its core." It's based on Chromium -- which is true of pretty much all browsers these days except Firefox and Safari -- and its unique selling point is that it integrates ChatGPT right into the browser, allowing users to chat with their search results and use a side panel that automatically provides ChatGPT with on-screen context. ChatGPT Atlas also has access to your browsing history, allowing the AI assistant to customize its responses based on your activity. For paid ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users, Atlas also has an "agent mode" where the AI can perform simple web-based tasks on your behalf. ChatGPT Atlas is currently only available for macOS, but support for Windows, iOS, and Android is on the way. The browser will be available to all free users at launch with some paywalled features. Furthermore, head of ChatGPT Atlas team Adam Fry posted on social media a list of "post-launch fixes" that will be addressed "over the coming weeks," including multiprofile support, tab groups, opt-in ad blocker, and various user experience improvements.

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI releases web browser to rival Google

OpenAI said Atlas would also offer a paid agent mode that conducts searches on its own for users of its popular chatbot. The agent mode feature will be available only to paying ChatGPT subscribers. It uses the chatbot to make "improvements that make it faster and more useful by working with your browsing context". The company has announced a slew of new efforts to corral users towards its online services, entering into partnerships with e-commerce sites like Etsy and Shopify, along with booking services like Expedia and Booking.com. At OpenAI's DevDay event earlier this month, Mr Altman announced that ChatGPT had reached 800 million weekly active users, up from 400 million in February, according to data and research firm Demandsage. "I believe that early adopters will kick the tires on the new OpenAI browser," said Pat Moorhead, CEO and chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. But, he said, he was skeptical that Atlas would pose a serious challenge to Chrome or Microsoft Edge "as more mainstream, beginners, and corporate users will just wait for their favorite browsers to offer this capability." Microsoft Edge already provides many of these capabilities today, Moorhead added. OpenAI's challenge comes a year after Google was declared an illegal monopolist in online search. In a recent decision aimed at prescribing remedies for Google's dominance, the search giant was not ordered to spin off its Chrome browser as US Justice Department lawyers had requested. A growing number of internet users are opting to use large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT as they search for answers and recommendations. The research firm Datos said that as of July, 5.99% of search on desktop browsers went to LLMs -- more than double the figure from a year earlier. Google is also heavily invested in AI, and for the last year has prioritized AI-generated answers to queries in its search results.

I ditched Chrome for ChatGPT Atlas -- here's why I'm going back, even with the smart features Google can't match

OpenAI's new browser, ChatGPT Atlas, brings AI directly into your daily web routine. But for someone like me -- who rarely uses their desktop to browse and doesn't need constant handholding to read the internet -- Atlas feels like a co-pilot I didn't really ask for. Don't get me wrong, Atlas is seriously impressive. It's essentially a browser with ChatGPT baked in; it even looks and acts exactly like ChatGPT. With quick page summaries, personalized context and memory-aware suggestions, it's easily the most intelligent browser I've used. But here's the thing, after trying it with several prompts, I realized I don't really need it. I'm a capable browser. I know how to search, skim, click and backtrack without AI. For the record, I've also tried Comet and didn't care for it either. Chrome is the only browser that feels useful. Here's why. My desktop is for working. Just as I don't sit at my desk and scroll Instagram on my phone, I don't sit on my desktop and search the web. If I ever need to fact check something, I usually go to the link directly. I certainly don't need ChatGPT Atlas to show me how to get there. In other words, the setup alone makes Atlas a bit of a mismatch for me. The entire experience is desktop-only for now, and while it works well in that space, it's not where most of my browsing happens. On mobile, I'm tapping through links quickly, while sitting in the school pickup line or waiting for my turn at Starbucks. For that reason, until Atlas makes it to mobile, I won't be using it. If I'm on Chrome or using Google, I can shift gears before the links populate. With ChatGPT Atlas, it will sometimes go on (overboard!) with a response. The follow up question is also a frustration for me. I could hit the black square to make it stop mid-query, but even that isn't as easy as just typing in something new with Google. One thing I will say is that I do find it helpful to have ChatGPT available for follow-up questions. For example, I looked for lights for reading in bed and ChatGPT was right there to help me find the best deal. That was much easier to do than if I had been Googling it, making the response feel much more personalized. I also appreciate seeing citations within the chat, unlike Google's AI Overviews, which often feel like the AI is saying "just take my word for it." I hate to admit it, but I'm older than the internet. I can still remember the first thing I ever Googled. I don't need a tour guide every time I open a new page. I don't need definitions of terms I already understand or summaries of articles I'm already reading. I enjoy reading, it's literally why I click on the articles, which, by the way, I prefer to do from my phone. For some people, Atlas is a dream -- students, researchers or anyone dealing with information overload. But if you're a confident browser with decent reading comprehension and a clear sense of what you're looking for, it might feel like overkill. Here are the genuinely useful tools Atlas brings to the table: If your workflow is already integrated with AI, these are game-changing. As much as I use AI, these features just aren't necessary within my browser. I like having them separate. ChatGPT Atlas is one of the most powerful fusions of AI and browsing I've seen. For power users, researchers or anyone who wants an AI assistant deeply embedded in their reading and writing flow, it's a game-changer. But for casual, mobile-first users like me -- it's smart, it's capable... it's just not essential. But until OpenAI brings it to mobile, I really don't have much of a use for it; so I'll stick to Chrome for now. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

OpenAI Launches 'ChatGPT Atlas' Browser to Compete with Safari and Chrome

OpenAI today introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a dedicated AI browser that includes ChatGPT integration. OpenAI says that the browser was designed around the question "What if you could chat with your web browser?" There is a dedicated "Ask ChatGPT" sidebar, allowing users to ask the chatbot questions directly from the browser without having to go to the ChatGPT website or app. ChatGPT will be able to do things like provide page summaries, compare products, answer questions about content on a website, edit and check code, and more, because it can see what the user is looking at. Browser memory is included for personalization purposes, and Atlas will learn more about the user over time. For searches, the browser opens with a ChatGPT-based response, but there are quick access tabs to get to traditional search results, images, and other options. The ChatGPT sidebar is meant to stay open while browsing takes place, providing a browsing companion. The new browser includes OpenAI's Operator AI agent that can take actions and complete web-based tasks like booking restaurant reservations, ordering groceries, creating purchase lists from online recipes, and filling out online forms. There is a "Cursor Chat" tool for editing writing inline in the browser. All of the standard browser features are also included, like tabs, bookmarks, history, and password integration. The design is simple and familiar, featuring a standard search window like Safari or Chrome. ChatGPT Atlas is launching on the Mac to begin with, and versions for iOS, Android, and Windows will be coming in the near future. OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser will compete with Apple's Safari browser and Google's Chrome browser. Safari does not have AI integration as of yet, but Chrome does. With OpenAI, Google, and also Perplexity offering AI browsers, Apple may need to integrate Siri and other AI tools into Safari in the future to keep up with the competition. ChatGPT Atlas is available on macOS starting today, but agent mode is only available to Plus and Pro users at the current time.

ChatGPT Atlas is ready to throw down in the AI browser wars

An agentic mode is available in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business users. As entrepreneurs seek to find a home for AI in every nook and cranny of our lives, one area we've seen receiving concerted attention has been our web browsers. While we've long been able to access advanced AI chatbot through their web portals, this new effort seeks to bring AI processing power right to the browser itself, opening up new use cases. Maybe that means AI agents being able to interact with remote websites just as if we were doing so ourselves, or concisely breaking down complicated pages and summarizing them for us. Now one of the biggest names in the industry is taking its own stab at just this kind of project.

OpenAI Launches the AI Browser War

ChatGPT has broken out of the chatbot. On Tuesday, OpenAI announced that it is launching a web browser called ChatGPT Atlas, which it says will reimagine the browsing experience from the ground up, now built around a chat-based experience for what the company called the "next era of the web." During a demonstration, OpenAI’s Engineering Lead for Atlas, Ben Goodger, explained that Atlas is the company's answer to the question, "What if you could chat with your browser?" While there are lots of familiar web browser elements to Atlas, including tabs, bookmarks, and autofill for passwords, the company has made ChatGPT central to the experience rather than an "old browser, just with a chatbot that was bolted on." That starts at the home screen, where the standard search bar now serves as a composer bar to communicate with ChatGPT. Users can use conversational prompts to have ChatGPT find certain webpages, perform a standard web search, or go directly to a website or bookmark. In the demo, Atlas Lead Designer Ryan O'Rouke explained that users should be able to use "human language" to search both the web and their browser history (OpenAI calls this "memories") to find webpages, documents, and information through contextual information. For instance, the company showed how it could find a Google Doc without knowing the URL or exact document name. Search results in Atlas are displayed on a homepage that curates a variety of information from the web based on the user's prompt. Users can also tab between more traditional search results, including a Google Search-like list of links, images, videos, or news stories. The primary appeal of Atlas is that a user will be able to pull up ChatGPT at any time while browsing the web and use the chatbot to interact with the page they are on. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described it during the demo as chatting with a webpage. The chatbot can be summoned via a button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen on desktop and will appear as a sidebar. Once opened, a user can ask it to summarize information on the page, ask page-specific questions and have the chatbot pull the answer directly from the site the user is looking at, and even interact with the page for them. That final feature is where ChatGPT's Agent comes in. OpenAI has been touting its new Agent feature for months now, including introducing an Agent toolkit during its recent DevDay event to give developers the ability to build their own AI agents. But this Agent will be built into the browser, activated on the lower part of the ChatGPT sidebar, and can perform tasks on behalf of the user. In a demo of the feature, OpenAI's Will Ellsworth, Research Lead on the Atlas Agent, asked the agent to purchase the ingredients needed for a recipe. Once prompted, the Agent navigated to Instacart and bought the relevant ingredients. According to the company, Agent will have access to user credentials so it can perform tasks on behalf of the user, though there will be prompts that will require the user to approve certain actions. Users can watch the task be completed by the Agent in real time with the cursor visibly moving on the page, or can let it run in the background. If the user needs to intervene, they can take back control at any time. Ellsworth described Agent as a tool for enabling "vibe lifing" and suggested users could delegate "all kinds of tasks, both in your personal and professional life, to the Agent in Atlas." Atlas will be available immediately for macOS, with plans to bring the browser to Windows, iOS, and Android "soon." While it seems the browser will be available for all ChatGPT users, Agent will be paywalled, only available for Plus subscribers paying $20 per month or Pro users paying $200 per month. Earlier this year, Google did its best to preempt this inevitability. The company announced an AI overhaul of its Chrome browser, which currently holds more than 70% of the total browser market share, including integrating its Gemini chatbot throughout the browser to do things like summarize web pages and do contextual search within a page. The company also floated that it will eventually include an AI agent capable of navigating the web and completing tasks on behalf of the user, though that feature is currently not available. Perplexity also has an AI-first browser called Comet, while companies like Opera, Microsoft, and The Browser company have all integrated AI features into their respective browsers.

OpenAI's new Atlas ChatGPT browser opens new security and privacy risks

Why it matters: Browsers are the gateway to the internet, and they're known to gobble up some of users' most sensitive information, like their passwords and credit card information. Driving the news: OpenAI released Atlas, its highly anticipated ChatGPT browser, to MacOS last week. * Immediately, privacy hawks started raising concerns about the amount of data the browser collected about users, which far surpasses any other browser on the market. * Security researchers also flagged concerns with how the browser defends against prompt injections, where attackers hide malicious commands in websites and emails to trick the AI into violating its own rules. The big picture: OpenAI joins a growing list of companies racing to embed AI into browsers, including Microsoft, Google and Perplexity. * But Atlas goes further: The ChatGPT agent can autonomously complete tasks on websites at a user's request and search queries go through ChatGPT rather than Google. Between the lines: That autonomy requires Atlas to gather and remember far more about users than traditional browsers. * Unlike traditional browsers, Atlas also builds "memories" from those searches that could help the browser deduce if someone is planning a trip, needs to reorder house supplies that week or should look up recipes at a specific time. What they're saying: "The browser wars aren't about tabs and search anymore," Steve Wilson, founder and co-chair of the OWASP Gen AI Security Project and chief AI officer at cybersecurity company Exabeam, told Axios. * "They're about whether we can keep our new digital coworkers from going rogue." Zoom in: The list of novel security and privacy threats is growing as experts dig into Atlas' capabilities. * Lena Cohen, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Washington Post that in her testing, Atlas memorized queries about "sexual and reproductive health services via Planned Parenthood Direct" -- and even the name of a real doctor. Such searches have been used to prosecute people in states where abortion access is restricted. * OpenAI says it has improved its systems and that Atlas isn't intended to remember details about a user's medical care. * In agent mode, Atlas could be tricked into booking a hotel room, deleting files or sending messages to someone in a user's contacts, if a malicious website embedded hidden prompts into its design. * Researchers at SquareX said Thursday that they were able to trick Atlas into visiting a malicious site disguised as the Binance login page. Reality check: OpenAI says Atlas is not supposed to retain sensitive information such as government IDs, banking details, passwords, addresses, medical records, or financial data. * Users can also tell Atlas not to remember certain websites and manually delete memories from its archive. * OpenAI says it has controls in place to prevent agents from running code, downloading files or using autofill data to complete tasks. Some sensitive tasks will also require users to watch the agents' actions. * But some security experts say it's too early to trust any AI browsers and the risks outweigh what they can currently accomplish. The intrigue: OpenAI CISO Dane Stuckey said Wednesday in a lengthy social media post that his team has conducted red-teaming exercises, used novel model training tactics to incentivize ChatGPT to ignore malicious instructions, implemented unique guardrails and safety measures and added new features to stop prompt injection attacks. * But Stuckey also admitted that prompt injection attacks remain largely an "unsolved security problem" across all AI platforms, and adversaries are likely going to spend "significant time and resources to find ways to make ChatGPT agent fall for these attacks." * OpenAI published tips for staying ahead of prompt injection attacks on Instagram over the weekend. * Researchers at Brave (who also have a browser) published a report Tuesday detailing how AI browsers, including Perplexity's Comet browser, are also susceptible to prompt injections. What to watch: Law enforcement is already demanding ChatGPT user data. A first-of-its-kind warrant obtained by Forbes last week shows that investigators are requesting users' ChatGPT histories as part of ongoing cases.

5 big updates coming to the ChatGPT Atlas browser:

OpenAI's new ChatGPT Atlas browser made a big splash with its AI-powered experience this week. But it only took a couple of days for Adam Fry, Atlas's product lead, to share a "post-launch fix list" on X. The list covers features many power users expect from web browsers, along with upgrades to the AI side of things. It's a fairly substantial list, as you can see below, but some of the items are bigger than others and could make or break the success of Atlas as it competes with Chrome and more recent AI-powered rivals. First on the list are the options to group tabs and switch between profiles. These are elements that many desktop browser users take for granted. Tab groups let you bundle related pages into one collapsible set, while switching profiles keeps bookmarks, history, and context separate. Since many people have separate profiles for work and personal use, this is more than a perk; it's a necessity. For now, Atlas offers the basic Chrome experience, but lacks the fine control many might prefer for their tabs. If Atlas can handle that reliably, it reduces the browser chaos burden that many of us who open 50 tabs at a time deal with every day. Fry's list mentions an "overflow bookmarks menu" and a shortcuts list. For users, that means you won't have to scroll endlessly through bookmarks in the toolbar. Instead, the extras will roll into a neat overflow. And a shortcuts menu, as the name indicates, makes it faster to access frequently used functions, whether it's opening the chat sidebar, saving tabs, or launching the agent mode. This kind of UI polish isn't a big spectacle, but it helps make Atla more than just a demo. It's the kind of tweak you don't notice when it works, but definitely notice when it's missing. ChatGPT Atlas is a web browser, but it's the AI elements that give it real distinction. Fry specified that there will be upgrades to the sidebar where the AI assistant lives. Soon, you'll see a model picker letting you choose which version of ChatGPT you want to interact with, as well as access to ChatGPT's Projects features. The browser is also going to allow users to attach multiple tabs in the composer and clean up the "@mentions" to provide more and better context for your requests. That way, when you're working across multiple browser tabs, maybe researching for an article or planning a trip, you can link several tabs into one task inside the sidebar, pick the model best for the task, and retain context via attachments. It's a notable difference from some AI-browser experiments that are limited to a single chat window. Atlas's promise is a more tightly integrated melding of browser and AI assistant, and you'll have to paste less into ChatGPT. The powerful Agent mode for ChatGPT Atlas enables the AI to open tabs, click buttons, fill out forms, and otherwise act on a user's behalf. Fry's list promises it will soon include quicker first replies and fewer missed triggers for action, while being better at waiting when it should, and smoother animation overall. Basically, you won't have to hover over the agent quite as much to make sure it performs as you wish. One of the more browser-specific items on Fry's list might appeal most to casual users: an opt-in ad blocker and smoother handling of captive portals - the public Wi-Fi logins that can break a browser. Despite being designed around AI, Atlas launched without these niceties at first. The list also included fixes for password manager integrations. By naming those explicitly, OpenAI seems to be responding to demands from people eager to use Atlas in every way they use their current browser. Fewer browser crashes are always a good selling point. There are plenty of other items on Fry's list, too. They all hint at ambitious plans for apps inside Atlas and more integration with existing third-party apps and services. While Fry didn't promise a particular timeline, the very fact of the announcement makes it clear that Atlas will change as quickly as possible and that OpenAI is listening. And if Atlas gains traction, everyone else, from Google Gemini to Opera Neon to Perplexity's Comet browser, must catch up. Any major bugs in the upgrades will be an issue, though. Some users will remain wary of AI inside every tab due to privacy concerns, though the ad-blocker and profile support may help assuage that concern. The average person might not care about the model architecture or the company strategy, but they do care about whether their browser works. These fixes show OpenAI is acknowledging that fact and adapting fast.

ChatGPT Atlas: OpenAI launches web browser centered around its chatbot

Company's AI-powered browser built around marquee bot is designed to provide more personalized web experience OpenAI on Tuesday launched an AI-powered web browser built around its marquee chatbot. "Meet our new browser -- ChatGPT Atlas," a tweet from the company read. The browser is designed to provide a more personalized web experience and includes a ChatGPT sidebar that enables users to asks questions about or engage with various aspects of each website they visit, as demonstrated in a video posted alongside the announcement. Atlas is now available globally on Apple's Mac operating system and will soon be made available on Windows, iOS and Android, according to OpenAI's announcement. Users can open the ChatGPT sidebar to and ask it to "summarize content, compare products, or analyze data from any site", the company website reads. The company has also started to roll out a preview of a virtual assistant dubbed "Agent Mode" to certain premium accounts. Agent Mode allows users to ask ChatGPT to complete tasks "from start to finish" such as "researching and shopping for a trip". The browser also enables ChatGPT to edit and alter highlighted text. An example on the website shows an email with highlighted text and a suggested prompt: "Make this sound more professional." The company says that users have complete control over their privacy settings: "You control what it remembers about you, how your data is used, and the privacy settings that apply while you browse." At the moment, Atlas users will be automatically opted out of allowing their browsing data to be used to train ChatGPT models, for instance. And, like in other browsers, a user can delete their browsing and web history. However, while the Atlas browser may not store exact copies of the content that a user searches for, if they are opted into something called "Browser memories", ChatGPT "will remember facts and insights from your browsing". It's not immediately clear how the company shares browsing information with third parties. OpenAI isn't the first to the market with a AI-enabled web browser. Google, for instance, has integrated parts of its Gemini AI model into Chrome. Other companies such as Perplexity AI have also rolled out AI-powered browsers. Shares of Google stock fell 4% immediately after OpenAI's announcement as investors fear a threat to its flagship browser Chrome, the most popular one in the world.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas, a new AI browser

Today, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Atlas, an AI browser with ChatGPT built in. It's now available globally on macOS for free, Plus, Pro, and Go ChatGPT users. According to OpenAI's announcement, the browser is a step towards the company building a "true super-assistant." ChatGPT has long been rumored to be working on an AI browser, as Mashable reported back in July. "With Atlas, ChatGPT can come with you anywhere across the web -- helping you in the window right where you are, understanding what you're trying to do, and completing tasks for you, all without copying and pasting or leaving the page," the blog post states. OpenAI also shared a video previewing ChatGPT Atlas features on X and its website. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Atlas opens with a search bar where users can enter questions or URLs, while an "Ask ChatGPT" button can be clicked to open a sidebar on an existing tab. When writing emails or other documents, users can also use their cursor to highlight text, and ChatGPT will suggest edits. ChatGPT memory is baked into Atlas, so users will be able to ask about what they looked up or worked on previously. Browser memories are apparently private to your account, and users can decide which sites ChatGPT can see. Both specific pages and the entire history can be cleared by users. You can also use Atlas Incognito, which signs you out of ChatGPT. The recently introduced ChatGPT parental controls work in Atlas, and there are new parental control options, like parents turning off browser memories and agent mode. OpenAI also claims in its blog that agent mode, which can navigate the web and perform tasks, is improved in Atlas. As an example, the preview video shows ChatGPT Atlast assisting users with making purchases on InstantCart. Agent mode in Atlas is available to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users. As part of new safety guards related to ChatGPT agent, it can't run code in the browser, download files, or install extensions. It can't access other apps on your computer, nor the file system, and it'll "pause to ensure you're watching it take actions on specific sensitive sites such as financial institutions." You can use the agent while you're logged out if you want to limit access to sensitive data. "ChatGPT's agent capabilities still carry risk," the blog post warns. Atlas is available in beta for Business users, as well as for Enterprise and Edu users if enabled by the plan's administrator. Versions for Windows, iOS, and Android are coming soon.

OpenAI releases ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-enabled web browser to challenge Google Chrome

OpenAI is entering the browser world with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-enabled browser. Atlas, now available globally, can be accessed through Apple's macOS, with support for Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon. The announcement comes several months after rumors in July that OpenAI would release a web browser that would challenge the dominance of Google's Chrome. OpenAI will make a formal announcement via livestream with CEO Sam Altman presenting Atlas. With more people using AI models and chat platforms for web searches, launching an AI-enabled browser has become another battleground for model providers. Of course, as Chrome has become more popular, it has slowly added AI capabilities thanks to the Gemini models. But companies like Perplexity, with its Comet browser, hoped to take on Chrome. Opera, long a Chrome competitor, also repositioned itself as an AI-powered browser by embedding AI features into its platform.

OpenAI promises big fixes and smarter features for ChatGPT Atlas

OpenAI responds to early feedback with a roadmap of fixes and feature upgrades for its AI-powered ChatGPT Atlas browser. What's happened? Days after releasing its AI-infused web browser, OpenAI has announced a list of fixes and feature upgrades coming to ChatGPT Atlas. The product lead, Adam Fry, has shared a comprehensive "post-launch fixes" list on X, detailing both fixes and new features. Among the key upcoming updates are tab groups and multiple user profiles. The former will let users bundle related pages together, while the latter will keep context, history, and bookmarks separate for different use cases. Other enhancements include an overflow bookmarks menu and a shortcut list for faster access to frequent actions. The AI-infused browser will also receive sidebar improvements, including a model picker, project integration within the AI chat sidebar, an enhanced chat composer for managing multiple tabs, and better context management through "@mentions." Why is this important? The Agent mode in Atlas (available exclusively to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users) will also see significant upgrades. These include faster first replies, a more reliable pause state, fewer missed triggers, and smoother animations. More browser-specific features are on the way, including an opt-in ad blocker and an improved password manager. These updates are critical because they address significant gaps that have put ChatGPT Atlas behind established browsers, particularly in tab management and user profiles. Recommended Videos Why should I care? If you're among the early adopters on macOS who've tried ChatGPT Atlas, you may have noticed the absence of basic browser functions such as user profiles. Many enthusiasts eager for OpenAI's take on the AI-powered web browser also pointed out these shortcomings, but the company has responded quickly. Whether you use ChatGPT Atlas for personal browsing, research, or professional tasks, the upcoming improvements will make the experience more intuitive and efficient. Most of the new features will roll out over the coming weeks, though some -- like tab groups and the ad blocker -- are expected to arrive a bit later. Profiles, on the other hand, are coming soon. Fry also noted that pinned tabs will automatically reopen on restart, helping users maintain continuity across multitasking sessions. OK, what's next? Once these foundational updates and AI refinements are in place, they'll set the stage for Atlas to evolve into a more integrated, versatile, and AI-centric browser platform. As new features accelerate adoption, the browser is expected to expand beyond macOS to Windows, iOS, and Android. In the near future, ChatGPT Atlas could help users work, research, and shop online more efficiently, blending the best of browsing and AI assistance into a single experience. Meanwhile, ChatGPT has got a new Shared Projects feature that lets multiple users work, chat, and share files from within the interface.

Online search a battleground for AI titans

Tech firms battling for supremacy in artificial intelligence are out to transform how people search the web, challenging the dominance of the Chrome browser at the heart of Google's empire. Chatbots that started out as AI-powered assistants have gradually merged with web browsers and can independently scour the internet for detailed answers to questions. OpenAI fired the latest salvo this week with the debut of what chief executive Sam Altman called an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT. During a demonstration, members of the OpenAI team had the Atlas browser come up with a shopping list for a dinner based on a specified dish and number of guests. Atlas joins Perplexity's Comet, Microsoft's Copilot-enabled Edge and newcomers Dia and Neon in this new breed of chatbot-browser hybrid. "So many services and apps are browser-based that it makes a lot of sense to have agentic AI acting in the browser," said Techsponential lead analyst Avi Greengart. Whereas early AI assistants simply returned answers, focus has shifted to enabling them to act as "agents," independently handling computer or online tasks such as setting schedules, making reservations or ordering pizza. Now, AI makers are keen to usurp the role of the browser and streamline users' interactions with the web. "We used to download a lot of applications to our computers," said SuRo Capital principal Evan Schlossman. "You don't download that many programs anymore; things are moving to the browser." As online exploration tools evolve with AI, they have yet to stray far from how people are already navigating the internet themselves. "I think they don't want to change the core experience too much," Greengart said. "Agentic AI following you around and offering help every time you do anything probably isn't right for everyone." Google has a hold Despite its prowess when it comes to AI, Google has yet to go all-in with agentic features in Chrome on par with those touted by challengers. The internet colossus has added AI Overviews that provide summaries of online query results, and offers the option of using an "AI Mode" for searches with advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities. Chrome currently accounts for more than 70% of the browser market and Google's name has become synonymous with search. Futurum Group chief executive Daniel Newman does not see that shifting in the short term given how deeply ingrained Chrome use is in modern lifestyles. But Thomas Thiele, a partner at consulting firm Arthur D. Little, said OpenAI could gain an advantage by combining what it learns from people's ChatGPT exchanges with the Atlas browser. "Gathering this information together, you can have more clues about persons than any time before," Thiele said. "We'd at least have a high chance that we'd see the birth of a new Google here." More insights into people can translate into better targeting of online ads, Google's main source of revenue. Defining tomorrow By taking control of the browser, an AI company could define how people will interact with the technology in the future, Thiele reasoned. "In the long run, the browser is not necessarily where everything happens," Newman said, noting smart glasses or other wearable devices for engaging with the internet could catch on. "We're shaping behavior; winning where users currently are is going to be critical for that long-term market share that they are all fighting for." But SuRo Capital's Schlossman anticipates the AI fight to unfold directly within chatbots rather than browsers. He recalled a recent demo that featured apps moving into ChatGPT. OpenAI is "trying to control the user interface and optimize and streamline it," Schlossman said.

Browser wars, a hallmark of the late 1990s tech world, are back with a vengeance -- and OpenAI just entered the race | Fortune

The early days of the internet saw intense competition between graphical web browsers: Netscape Navigator faced off against Microsoft's Internet Explorer. No sooner had Explorer won that conflict than a new war for marketshare erupted between Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, and Google Chrome. This time Chrome emerged as the dominant player, with a marketshare that has been above 60% for most of the past decade, while the next closest rival, Apple's Safari, has been stuck in the mid-teens. But now, AI is shaking up the browser market, with companies beginning to incorporate new generative and agentic AI capabilities directly into the web navigation tool. That in turn is sparking a fierce new war for users, with Google Chrome, now enhanced with Google's AI model Gemini, fighting upstarts like Perplexity, with its Comet AI browser, and battered veterans of past browser fights, like Opera, trying to get their mojo back with AI enhancements too. On Tuesday, OpenAI also entered the fray with it's new AI powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas. The new browser looks like a traditional ones such as Google Chrome but puts ChatGPT at the center of the browsing experience and weaves AI into the user experience. OpenAI is also offering a paid agent mode of Atlas that can conduct searches on its own for users. For nearly two decades, the basic browsing experience, aside from a few minor improvements, remained largely unchanged. Users typed a url in the navigation bar, or typed a search query in that same space -- a feature that Opera first pioneered but which was soon copied by Google -- and the browser takes the user to that web address or a search results page, which displays a list of links. Click on a link and the browser takes you to that web page. Now, tech companies are betting that users want a new kind of experience: a browser that can answer questions, not just provide a list of links, and that can do far more than just navigate a user to a web page -- one that can perform tasks for the user on that page, such as booking travel or completing a purchase. "This is probably the biggest shift since we've seen the browser itself become the gateway to the internet. For 30 years, the browser was about navigation. Type, click, explore. Now, with AI, it's changing the model completely. It's moving from browsing to delegating," George Chalhoub, assistant professor at UCL Interaction Centre, told Fortune. Tech companies, including Perplexity and Opera, have already launched agentic AI browsers that can perform tasks on behalf of users. Perplexity's Comet combines a web browser with a built-in AI agent that can read pages, summarize information, and even perform multi-step actions, such as booking appointments or sending emails. Similarly, Opera's Neon introduces features like "Do," which can carry out actions on a user's behalf, and "Cards," which store custom workflows and prompts for repeated use. "The browser wars are starting and the competition is heating up because browsers today are the operating system of your applications," Krystian Kolondra, EVP Browsers at Opera, told Fortune. "The browser world is extremely important because it is more aware than the operating system itself about what's happening on your pages." The vision for AI-powered browsing reframes the traditional browser as not just a tool for access, but as the primary interface through which AI agents operate. "The whole notion of search changed. It's not to point to the place where you can find your answer or do your thing, but to give you that answer and do that thing," Himanshu Tyagi, co-founder of the open-source AI company Sentient, said. "We are moving to sort of a dark internet, in the sense that it's not meant for just humans. It's meant for bots to consume and process information. Bots do things and give humans the final thing." If the third round of browser wars is already underway, the battlefield looks very different from the days when the main axes of competition were things like speed and tab management. This time, it's about which company can deliver the most seamless AI-powered experience while navigating heightened privacy issues and convincing users to change long-established habits. While major players like Google still dominate, nimble newcomers are testing the limits of what a browser can do. The second round of browser wars concluded with Google Chrome's dominance, mostly due to its speed and integration with the wider Google ecosystem. Most browsers are now also underpinned by Chromium, a free and open-source web browser project, which was primarily developed and maintained by Google. Chromium is essentially a back-end system that determines how a browser goes out to find a particular web address, using an index of web pages Google maintains, and how it renders that web page. While Google still dominates the search market and has taken steps to integrate AI into the search experience, its market share has been slipping. According to analysts at Third Bridge, in July, Google's global search market share dropped below 90% for the first time in 10 years. This could be due to the increased popularity of AI search engines like Perplexity or competition from AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, which launched its own Search tool in October last year and announced a full browser on Tuesday. In a survey from brokerage firm Evercore ISI conducted last year, ChatGPT respondents saying ChatGPT was their top search provider increased to 5% from 1% four months prior. That said, the popularity of Chome as a browser has not noticeably declined. While people may be sending their search queries to ChatGPT or Perplexity, when they use those services on desktop, they are mostly still using a tab in Chrome to do so. And given the technical complexity and cost of building a browser from scratch, most AI companies are unlikely to develop their own back-end web indexing. Nearly every "AI browser" on the market today, including Perplexity's Comet and OpenAI's Atlas, is built on Chromium. Building a browser entirely from scratch is complex and resource-heavy. To do so, a company would have to recreate everything from how web pages are rendered and memory is managed, to encryption systems, sandboxing, video playback, and constant security patching. Even Microsoft, once Google's fiercest rival in the browser space, eventually abandoned its own engine and rebuilt Edge on Chromium. "It's literally reinventing the wheel," Chalhoub said. "I don't see any company building its browser from scratch." But why are AI companies so keen to have a browser of their own? Perplexity, for example, raised eyebrows earlier this year when it made an unsolicited cash offer of $34.5 billion for Google Chrome. "The browser is what we live in during the day on our desktop devices," Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer of Perplexity, told Fortune earlier this year. "It's just an incredibly powerful canvas, and in terms of being able to create value for users, it gives us a much bigger surface area... it requires us to know more about you and have more context." The real prize for these companies isn't web navigation; it's control of the gateway to the rest of users' digital lives, including a lot of other web-based software applications. Most companies are betting that the true value of AI will be unlocked when AI agents have access to a user's entire ecosystem -- emails, calendar, messages, and documents -- and can perform tasks across them seamlessly. "There's this myth of the 'everything app,'" Tyagi said. "AI is only magical when it's everywhere with you in a single, unified interface. If you have to use one app for your glasses, another on your phone, and another on your laptop, that's not a complete experience. The magic is when there's one interface that goes with you everywhere and is always engaging with your context." Most AI companies are working on autonomous assistants with the aim of getting them moving fluidly between a user's various applications. But they are pursuing varying approaches to accomplish this. OpenAI appears to be trying to position ChatGPT as a version of this universal interface, not through a browser, but by integrating third-party apps directly into the chatbot so users can search, shop, plan travel, and manage files without ever leaving the conversation. But changing user habits is never easy, and the idea of browsing the web is deeply ingrained in users. "Changing user habits takes time, especially when it comes to something as fundamental as how we explore the web," Chalhoub said. "For most people, the browser is the oldest and most familiar tool we use online. In terms of physical experience, we trust it so much because it's stable and predictable." However, Chalhoub noted that it's often small conveniences that drive major behavioral shifts. "If an AI browser can slowly start saving me time, booking travel automatically, or summarizing articles, I think people will adapt much faster than we expect." In many ways, AI-enabled browsers, such as Comet, OpenAI's Atlas, or Gemini in Chrome, are a hybrid, or half-way house, between the idea of chatbots as the universal interface, where a human user has no direct access to the web at all, and the traditional, human-driven web browsing experience. The advantage of an AI browser is that it lets both the human and AI model access the web in exactly the same way -- even at the same time, with the agent able to work alongside a person, or work on one process in one tab while the human user works on a different task in another. With the web browser, there's no need to create an entirely new protocol through which the AI model interacts with the content and data of third-parties, such as Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP), which is being used to power a lot of "agentic" experiences in chatbots. Agentic AI browsers have access to much more user data than traditional search engines, which brings about a host of privacy concerns. By design, these tools see far more of what users do online, and can even infer why a user is acting in certain ways. "Browsers have always been powerful data collection tools, and when you add AI to the mix, that power multiplies," Chalhoub said. "An AI-powered browser doesn't just observe your behavior; it can infer your intentions, habits, and even your mood. Every prompt or summary becomes a data point about you, so the information has to be handled responsibly and not used for advertising or profiling." Chalhoub also warned that with AI in the loop, it makes it much harder for users to know where their data goes. "It's definitely a privacy risk, not because AI is inherently bad, but it has more context and intention in one place. So companies really have to be responsible in this regard," he said. It's already unclear how far a user's conversations with AI chatbots are confidential. For example, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently warned that users currently have no legal protection over their ChatGPT conversations if subpoenaed. Letting an AI agent crawl through emails, texts, and other highly sensitive data could risk exposing deeply personal information if not handled carefully, raising serious questions about how much control users really have over their own data. Tech companies, for their part, are aware of the new risks around privacy introduced by AI agents. Kolondra said that Opera's Neon only processes data when users ask it to, like when summarizing a page, and all requests are end-to-end encrypted. "We don't use that data to train our models," he added.

AppleInsider.com

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas brings AI-powered assistance directly into a standalone browser. OpenAI has launched its first standalone web browser, which it has dubbed ChatGPT Atlas. It integrates ChatGPT directly into the browser. According to its launch page, users can open a ChatGPT sidebar in any window. From there, they can choose to summarize content, compare products, and analyze data. Users control what ChatGPT remembers, similar to the in-browser and desktop versions. The ChatGPT Atlas Data Controls and Privacy page notes that, by default, users' browsing data isn't used to improve or train AI models. Highlighting text in emails, calendar invites, or documents brings up context-aware tools. Chat then provides suggestions or relevant information with a single click. While there are plenty of features unique to ChatGPT Atlas, one stands out more than the others. Agent Mode, which is available in preview to Plus, Pro, and Business subscribers, allows ChatGPT to perform tasks on the user's behalf. OpenAI suggests that certain tasks could be completed from start to finish. It then goes on to suggest that these tasks could include "researching" and "shopping for a trip." It also features the things you've come to expect from a browser. It features tabs, autocomplete, a search bar, and bookmarks; users can even set browsing preferences and colors. ChatGPT Atlas is available to download now. Mac users will need to be running macOS 14+ and must have a Mac with Apple Silicon -- M1 or better.

OpenAI Announces Browser-Based AI Agent for "Vibe Lifing"

OpenAI wants you to delegate "all sorts of tasks, both in your personal and professional life," to its new AI browser agent. OpenAI has announced a brand-new AI-powered web browser, dubbed ChatGPT Atlas, which is now available globally. Perhaps most memorably, Atlas features an "agent mode" -- initially limited to paying Plus, Pro, and Business users -- that acts as a natural extension of OpenAI's forays into agentic AIs, meaning models intended to autonomously complete tasks. In the context of a browser, that means that users can watch the AI move the cursor as it navigates the intricacies of the web -- for instance, in one demo OpenAI showed today, purchasing groceries on Safeway's website for an upcoming dinner. The company also used the opportunity to coin a new, cringe-inducing term. "In the same way that GPT-5 and Codex are these great tools for 'vibe coding,' we believe that we can start in the long run to have an amazing tool for 'vibe lifing,'" promised OpenAI technical staffer Will Ellsworth during the stream. "So delegating all sorts of tasks, both in your personal and professional life, to the agent in Atlas." "Vibe lifing" was meant as a direct response to "vibe coding," a phrase coined by since-departed OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy earlier this year. The trend involves using AI to rapidly develop software using natural language prompts. But given the potentially disastrous consequences of handing the keys to your web browser to a hallucinating large language model, the risks are clear. AI browsers by OpenAI's competitors have already resulted in embarrassment as they turned out to be easily exploitable by bad actors. Even Karpathy has acknowledged that vibe coding was never meant to be a feasible, long-term solution. "Sometimes the LLMs can't fix a bug, so I just work around it or ask for random changes until it goes away," he wrote in the February tweet in which he first coined the term. "It's not too bad for throwaway weekend projects, but still quite amusing." How OpenAI's laissez-faire approach will translate to making important purchases or managing impactful life decisions -- especially as hackers work to exploit the new tech -- remains to be seen. It's one thing to end up with a couple of hallucinated bugs in a mockup for a new piece of software you're working on -- but another when you're giving an exploitable AI access to your wallet and personal information. "I'm really excited to see all the unexpected and cool ways that you can use the agent in Atlas, and we're really excited to ship this," Ellsworth concluded during today's stream.

Why Google Shouldn't Worry About OpenAI's Atlas Browser -- Yet - Decrypt

Google is expected to respond with Gemini 3, embedding multimodal reasoning into Chrome to defend its two-thirds share of the browser market. OpenAI fired a shot across Google's bow on Tuesday with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, its first native AI browser that combines the familiar web-surfing experience with built-in AI assistance. Atlas, which combines chat, browsing, and AI-driven automation, is OpenAI's most aggressive move yet to control the user's entire online experience. "At OpenAI, we're not just trying to create the world's most intelligent models," an OpenAI spokesperson told Decrypt. "We want this intelligence to actually be useful in your everyday life. That means building AI into products like Atlas that meet people where they are." The move signals a new front in the AI wars, shifting the battleground from search and chatbots to the browser itself. While OpenAI is trying to reshape web access, Google is not expected to remain idle, with its next major AI release, Gemini 3, poised to deeply integrate similar capabilities into its market-leading Chrome browser. Still, Atlas enters an increasingly crowded field of AI-powered browsers, including Opera Neon, Pexplexity AI's Comet, The Browser Company's Dia, and Microsoft's Copilot in Edge, all competing to make the web more conversational and less manual. These new entrants aim to replace static searching and tab-hopping with intelligent assistants that understand context and perform multi-step tasks. None poses as significant a threat to Google as OpenAI. Chrome still dominates with roughly two-thirds of the global market share, making it a critical asset in the AI race. The browser's strategic importance was underscored in August when a potential forced divestiture of Chrome sparked a bidding frenzy, with offers reaching $35 billion from competitors eager to control that gateway. While Google retained control of Chrome, the launch of Atlas is forcing its hand. The tech giant's expected response centers on Gemini 3, its next-generation AI model. Industry watchers anticipate Gemini 3 will feature a vastly expanded ability to reason across text, images, and video, with these powerful capabilities being embedded directly into Chrome and its wider ecosystem of applications. Success for OpenAI, however, is far from guaranteed. Browser loyalty runs deep, and winning users over will require flawless performance and security. Questions over privacy and control are also amplified when a browser can act on a user's behalf. OpenAI has acknowledged the risk of "prompt injection" attacks that could exploit its agent's permissions, a significant hurdle to overcome for user trust. That could be good news for Google as competitors' products take time to get up to speed. Ultimately, though, the launch of ChatGPT Atlas marks a pivot point. For publishers and content creators, a shift from manual search to agent-driven actions could profoundly reshape strategies around SEO and web traffic. For most internet users, the browser is where work, shopping, and entertainment already converge, though admittedly it hasn't evolved much in decades. AI browsers promise to automate the drudgery inside those tabs: summarizing research, rewriting emails, comparing flights, or drafting responses without switching apps. Instead of searching and clicking, users can simply ask, "Find me a quiet hotel in Lisbon with late check-out," and let the browser handle the rest. AI browsers still represent a sliver of the market -- Chrome dominates with roughly two-thirds of global share -- but their ambitions are clear. While replacing static search and manual tab-hopping with assistants that understand context and perform multi-step tasks will take time, Google will likely have to sit up and take notice. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ChatGPT Atlas browser is 48 hours old and Microsoft just launched its copycat - why AI browsers are the next big thing

Just days ago, OpenAI released its new Atlas tool. This is the company's first take on an AI browser, blending ChatGPT with an experience similar to Chrome. And, before the dust can settle, the competition is already following quickly behind. Roughly two days later and Microsoft has announced a major update to its Copilot model, implementing AI in a way that is very similar to what you see from ChatGPT Atlas, or its other big competitor, Perplexity Comet. This isn't an entirely new tool, but simply a major update to the experience that Copilot offers. Microsoft explains that it includes 12 new features that focus on "making Copilot more personal, more useful and more connected to the people and world around you". These new features include the ability to collaborate on projects in real time with up to 32 other people (like in Google Docs), and Copilot also lets you create AI-generated content in these spaces. There is a new AI assistant called Mico. This optional presence listens and reacts to your actions and can push back or help you where needed. Other new features include major improvements to Copilot's memory and personalization, and the ability to connect your content and use AI with it, including OneDrive, Outlook, Gmail, and Google Drive. Copilot also introduced a health function, addressing users' common health-related questions, using sources like Harvard Health to empower the answers. Copilot states that the goal is to help you take control of your health with high-quality information while doing it quickly. A similar tool that is also part of the package is 'Learn Live'. This is a voice-enabled tutor that guides you through concepts instead of just giving answers. There are lots of other smaller updates as part of this, mostly centered around making the tool more accessible and available in more places. You can read all about the Copilot update on Microsoft's blog. AI browsers seem to be very trendy right now. Perplexity and ChatGPT are doing it, Opera has released one, and many of the biggest names in search (such as Copilot) are finding ways to make their browser as packed with AI as possible. After a period of time where every major company was trying to make chatbots and AI models, this seems like the obvious advancement. A browser, for companies like Perplexity and ChatGPT, would give them a much wider audience, far more data on user preferences, and a whole new market of partnerships. For the Copilots and Operas of the world, it is an opportunity for them to even the playing field in AI. They already operate their own browsers, giving them an advantage over both ChatGPT and Perplexity, which have to piggyback on Chrome. In other words, expect to hear the words 'AI browsing' a lot for the next couple of years as every tech company under the sun fights to be the next Google.

OpenAI launches web browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in challenge to Google

Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program. OpenAI said Tuesday it is launching an artificial intelligence-powered website browser, heightening the company's competition with Google, the Alphabet-owned unit that has long dominated online search. The new browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, is for now only available on Apple laptops that run the company's Mac operating system. Access will soon expand to Apple's iOS, Microsoft Windows and Google's Android platforms, OpenAI said. In the company's launch video, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described Atlas as an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT that will allow people to converse with web pages. In a video presentation, he also expressed confidence that a chatbot interface will eventually supplant a traditional browser's URL bar. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said. Like other search engines, Atlas has a home page with a search bar where people can ask questions, similar to Google's landing page. Users can also toggle through different tabs across the top of the browser to find news stories, images and other content. But a few features set the browser apart, according to OpenAI. One is a ChatGPT side bar, which users can activate by clicking an "Ask ChatGPT" button in the upper right-hand corner of the browser. "It's basically you inviting ChatGPT into your corner of the internet," said Ryan O'Rouke, the lead designer for Atlas, in OpenAI's video unveiling the browser. The technology functions like ChatGPT but takes into account what web page people are on. In practice, that means users can ask questions about whatever content they are looking at. Users can also call on the ChatGPT function while drafting emails. In the demo, O'Rouke shows how he uses it to ask for edits on an email. "It's using the internet for you," Altman said. Atlas also has an "agent mode" that can take action on a person's behalf, armed with what it has learned from users' browsing history and what they are searching for. The agent also can help people complete a range of tasks, such as booking a flight, editing a document or ordering groceries. For now, agent mode is only available for plus and pro users, according to Altman. Whether Atlas will erode Google's dominance in browsing and searching the internet remains to be seen. Melissa Otto, head of research at S&P Global Visible Alpha, said Google is expected to generate $220 billion in search revenues this fiscal year alone. But OpenAI is a potentially formidable competitor, she noted. "Ultimately, Google is still the leader in search, but OpenAI's move with Atlas is worth watching," she said. OpenAI has said ChatGPT has more than 800 million users, although the San Francisco-based company has yet to turn a profit. Google's Chrome browser has roughly 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features drawing on the company's Gemini AI technology.

Can AI fix the web AI broke?

We've entered a new era of AI-powered browsers. They have names like Comet, Dia, and Neon, and they all make the same promise: to do things for you on the web. The web is broken, increasingly full of AI slop, and surfing it sucks. Maybe AI agents should do the searching, clicking, and thinking instead? Or at least, maybe they can speed things up. That might mean summarizing a news article, filling out a form, or buying your groceries. ChatGPT Atlas, which OpenAI launched on Tuesday, operates as a search engine of sorts, replacing the ubiquitous Google Search bar at the top with a ChatGPT prompt box. Even Google Chrome offers Gemini as a sidekick that will follow you around the web and explain things to you, like Clippy but less annoying.

Online search a battleground for AI titans

New York (AFP) - Tech firms battling for supremacy in artificial intelligence are out to transform how people search the web, challenging the dominance of the Chrome browser at the heart of Google's empire. Chatbots that started out as AI-powered assistants have gradually merged with web browsers and can independently scour the internet for detailed answers to questions. OpenAI fired the latest salvo this week with the debut of what chief executive Sam Altman called an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT. During a demonstration, members of the OpenAI team had the Atlas browser come up with a shopping list for a dinner based on a specified dish and number of guests. Atlas joins Perplexity's Comet, Microsoft's Copilot-enabled Edge and newcomers Dia and Neon in this new breed of chatbot-browser hybrid. "So many services and apps are browser-based that it makes a lot of sense to have agentic AI acting in the browser," said Techsponential lead analyst Avi Greengart. Whereas early AI assistants simply returned answers, focus has shifted to enabling them to act as "agents," independently handling computer or online tasks such as setting schedules, making reservations or ordering pizza. Now, AI makers are keen to usurp the role of the browser and streamline users' interactions with the web. "We used to download a lot of applications to our computers," said SuRo Capital principal Evan Schlossman. "You don't download that many programs anymore; things are moving to the browser." As online exploration tools evolve with AI, they have yet to stray far from how people are already navigating the internet themselves. "I think they don't want to change the core experience too much," Greengart said. "Agentic AI following you around and offering help every time you do anything probably isn't right for everyone." Google has a hold Despite its prowess when it comes to AI, Google has yet to go all-in with agentic features in Chrome on par with those touted by challengers. The internet colossus has added AI Overviews that provide summaries of online query results, and offers the option of using an "AI Mode" for searches with advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities. Chrome currently accounts for more than 70 percent of the browser market and Google's name has become synonymous with search. Futurum Group chief executive Daniel Newman does not see that shifting in the short term given how deeply ingrained Chrome use is in modern lifestyles. But Thomas Thiele, a partner at consulting firm Arthur D. Little, said OpenAI could gain an advantage by combining what it learns from people's ChatGPT exchanges with the Atlas browser. "Gathering this information together, you can have more clues about persons than any time before," Thiele said. "We'd at least have a high chance that we'd see the birth of a new Google here." More insights into people can translate into better targeting of online ads, Google's main source of revenue. Defining tomorrow By taking control of the browser, an AI company could define how people will interact with the technology in the future, Thiele reasoned. "In the long run, the browser is not necessarily where everything happens," Newman said, noting smart glasses or other wearable devices for engaging with the internet could catch on. "We're shaping behavior; winning where users currently are is going to be critical for that long-term market share that they are all fighting for." But SuRo Capital's Schlossman anticipates the AI fight to unfold directly within chatbots rather than browsers. He recalled a recent demo that featured apps moving into ChatGPT. OpenAI is "trying to control the user interface and optimize and streamline it," Schlossman said.

OpenAI's New Web Browser Comes With Some Serious Security Risks

Agent mode can perform tasks on your behalf, but that poses risks to your security and privacy. OpenAI has officially entered the browser wars. On Tuesday, the company announced Atlas, a new web browser with ChatGPT integration. At the moment, it's Mac-only, but I wouldn't recommend even my Apple friends jumping on board immediately -- at least not without understanding the underlying risks. If you've already used other AI browsers, like Perplexity's Comet, Atlas is going to feel familiar. In fact, that's also likely true if you've used any web browser before: Atlas is built on Chromium, the engine that powers browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. That means the core mechanics of Atlas are fairly standard; there's nothing particularly revolutionary happening here when it comes to sorting tabs or the browsing experience itself. The same is true when it comes to some ChatGPT interactions. As with other AI browsers, ChatGPT is assigned to the sidebar of the browser window. You can call it up by clicking on the "Ask ChatGPT" button, where you can ask it questions about the content you're currently browsing. You can also ask ChatGPT for writing assistance any time you enter an open text field in the browser. Like Comet, Atlas has an agent mode, but the latter's is built off the existing ChatGPT agent. The idea is that you can task Atlas with performing functions on your behalf. So, rather than pulling up DoorDash's website and ordering yourself dinner, you could ask Atlas to order dinner for you. You can even watch Atlas get to work, and see its thinking behind each decision. OpenAI has other ideas for how to use Atlas' agent mode, including giving the browser a recipe to shop for, or asking the bot to run through team documents at work to generate a brief. Deeper ChatGPT integration is what might set Atlas apart from the competition. If you're a regular ChatGPT user, you'll probably appreciate it having that contextual awareness of your past conversations -- if you've already asked ChatGPT about a topic, and you're currently researching it in a browser window, you can pick up the conversation and assume ChatGPT will remember what you've already talked about. Similarly, Atlas will track your browsing and activity history and call upon it in future sessions. Perhaps you'll open your browser to find personalized suggestions on which sites and topics to explore next. Does that sound creepy? Absolutely. But if you're someone who doesn't mind the privacy trade-off, there could be some benefits there. In OpenAI's announcement, it suggested asking Atlas to pull up all the job postings you looked at last week, and produce a summary of industry trends to use in interview prep. If you find that these memories are a bit too much for you, you can disable them from the browser settings. (OpenAI says deleting your browsing history also deletes associated browser memories, and the browser's incognito window logs you out of ChatGPT.) The company includes a setting called "ChatGPT page visibility," which lets you control whether ChatGPT can actually see the webpage you're visiting. If you choose "Not Allowed," you can block the bot from seeing what you're doing, which is good. But then again, doing that defeats the purpose of Atlas a bit. If you don't want ChatGPT seeing what you're doing, you might as well use a browser that doesn't have ChatGPT built right into it. (The company does promise it won't train ChatGPT on your browsing data unless you opt into it, but why would you do that?) I'm of the opinion that if the safety of a browser is in question, it's best not to bother with. That's the case with Atlas, as well as other AI browsers. The main issue with browsers that incorporate AI agents is that they are susceptible to indirect prompt injection attacks. Brave has done a lot of research on this subject, particularly with Comet. In short, bad actors can potentially hide malicious instructions on websites that the AI agents see as no different from a typical user request. Because the browser is designed to act on your behalf, these malicious instructions can command the AI to do things you definitely don't want it to do. You might ask Atlas to summarize a webpage, but because a bad actor hid a command to do something involving your email, bank account, or corporate intranet on the site, it does that instead. To OpenAI's credit, the company has compiled a list of safeguards to mitigate risks with Atlas. Atlas cannot run code directly in the browser, nor can it download files or install extensions. The browser has no way to access other apps on your Mac, nor its file system. If agent mode needs to access sensitive sites, like your bank, it'll pause to make sure "you're watching." To that point, you can use Atlas' agent in logged out mode, which limits its ability to access sensitive data or take actions "as you" on websites. But even OpenAI admits that after thousands of hours of testing, their safeguards "will not stop every attack that emerges as AI agents grow in popularity." The company says it'll patch new vulnerabilities as it finds them, but if bad actors find them first, they might trick these AI agents into doing some terrible things. To me, the risks currently far outweigh the benefits. I don't yet see much reason to have a bot in my browser do things on my behalf, but even if I did, I wouldn't use it just yet. The risk that someone injects a website with a malicious command and derails my AI agent -- and my digital life -- is too great, especially when I can book those flights or order that delivery on my own without issue.

OpenAI launches its new agentic AI Atlas browser with the intention of taking over 'most web use' and a warning to 'weigh the tradeoffs' of using its most powerful features

It's for Apple Macs only for now. Windows, iOS, and Android devices will submit to Atlas 'soon'. OpenAI has launched its new Atlas web browser and with it "a step toward a future where most web use happens through agentic systems." The broad agentic capabilities of the new browser look as impressive as they do terrifying, including the ability to track and remember everything you do and carry out complex, multi-step tasks on your behalf. At launch, Atlas is only available for macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android support "coming soon." The basic idea for Atlas seems to be to embed all your browsing within ChatGPT, rather than add ChatGPT to a browser, thereby giving the chatbot almost limitless abilities in a browsing context. According to Ben Goodger, engineering lead for Atlas, it all started with the question, "What if you could chat with your browser?" From there, OpenAI claims to have replaced "years of complexity and clutter with simple conversation." Notably, OpenAI wants to make sure Atlas doesn't feel like a conventional browser, "just with a chat button bolted on." That said, at first Atlas will feel familiar, with tabs, bookmarks, autofill passwords and so on. To those browser basics, three core functionalities are added. First is a chatbot that accompanies you everywhere on the web, always aware of what you're looking at and ready to help. The second is browser memory, which makes the experience more personalised over time. Finally, there's the agentic aspect, basically the ability for ChatGPT to act on your behalf through the browser. The potential of this technology is pretty bewildering, but as for examples of what it can do, the basics include ChatGPT "bringing up a cursor and clicking around when you ask it to, it will help you book reservations and flights, or even just edit a document you're working on." As you use Atlas and it gets to know you, it will begin to generate a list of suggested links and tasks on the homepage. That could be everything from a link to a news story to a complex agentic task like planning a trip. An "Ask ChatGPT" button is ever-present on the top right, instantly giving you access to the full gamut of ChatGPT capabilities, including everything from summarising whatever you are viewing to carrying out edits. Atlas can also function much like a conventional browser. Its search functionality can mimic Google with a simple list of web pages, images, videos or news stories. One of the more immediately powerful abilities involves Atlas's memory. It should allow you to make simple natural language requests like, "hey, can you take me to that listing on Autotrader of a green Audi I was looking at last week," or "what was that Airbnb I was looking at in Crete yesterday", and Atlas will know what you mean and bring up the relevant pages. I have to admit, that is pretty appealing. It will likely dramatically change the way browser bookmarks and history are managed. The whole agentic thing perhaps requires a bit more of an intellectual leap of faith. OpenAI gives the example of asking Atlas to plan a dinner party, fill an online shopping basket with ingredients and have them ordered and delivered to your door. That would require a fairly elevated level of trust in the technology. At this point, it almost seems trite to flag the many and obvious potential downsides to all this. The two most obvious worries are privacy and reliability. What is ChatGPT doing with your data, and can you trust it to get anything right, especially when it's acting on your behalf and even spending your money, in other words? "Browser memories are private to your ChatGPT account and under your control. You can view them all in settings, archive ones that are no longer relevant, and clear your browsing history to delete them. Even when browser memories are on, you can decide which sites ChatGPT can or can't see using the toggle in the address bar. When visibility is off, ChatGPT can't view the page content, and no memories are created from it," OpenAI says in mitigation. There's also the training aspect. "By default, we don't use the content you browse to train our models. If you choose to opt-in this content, you can enable 'include web browsing' in your data controls settings. Note, even if you opt into training, webpages that opt out of GPTBot, will not be trained on. If you've enabled training for chats in your ChatGPT account, training will also be enabled for chats in Atlas. This includes website content you've attached when using the Ask ChatGPT sidebar and browser memories that inform your chats," OpenAI explains. As for accuracy and reliability, perhaps unsurprisingly, OpenAI doesn't make any specific claims and ultimately attempts to hand all the responsibility over to users. "Users should weigh the tradeoffs when deciding what information to provide to the agent, as well as take steps to minimize their exposure to these risks such as using ChatGPT agent in logged-out mode in Atlas and monitoring agent's activities. We will continually monitor and patch any vulnerabilities that we discover," OpenAI says. Exactly how users are meant to "weigh the tradeoffs" with a new and unfamiliar system like this is anyone's guess. But OpenAI clearly wants to have its cake and eat it here. It wants to roll out powerful new features, but not be liable if anything goes wrong. Indeed, some of the "safeguards" OpenAI has provided actually serve as reminders of the risks at play. For instance, Atlas will "pause to ensure you're watching it take actions on specific sensitive sites such as financial institutions." What exactly would happen next and who would be deemed liable should Atlas execute a financial transaction in error is anyone's guess, but presumably OpenAI would say it's all on users. More than anything, the sense is of an inherently experimental technology, the impact of which nobody really knows, but that OpenAI is nonetheless willing to unleash for very wide use with the proviso that it isn't liable for anything that goes wrong. Overall, Atlas looks like an exciting and terrifying glimpse of the future of not just web browsing, but life in general in the age of AI. What a time to be alive. Mac users can download Atlas here. Good luck.

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops running macOS and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

OpenAI launches AI web browser ChatGPT Atlas in challenge to Google

The way that we hope people will use the internet in the future... the chat experience in a web browser can be a great analogue," says Sam Altman. OpenAI has entered a new internet battleground against Google with the launch of its AI-powered web browser called ChatGPT Atlas. The tool was unveiled on Tuesday in a livestream with the company's chief executive officer, Sam Altman, saying Atlas was: "The way that we hope people will use the internet in the future... the chat experience in a web browser can be a great analogue". The company said the tool was available "globally," including in Europe, on macOS from Tuesday, but that for Windows, iOS, and Android, it was "coming soon". One of the key features the company touts is memory, which means the browser can see and remember what you browse, to make web searching more personalised. These 'memories' can also be seen and managed by the user, which could be useful when wanting to look through your browsing history. It also has an agent mode, whereby ChatGPT will take actions for you, such as grocery shopping or editing a document you might be working on. A browser built with ChatGPT takes us closer to a true super-assistant that understands your world and helps you achieve your goals, the company said. However, the "agent mode" is only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users for now. OpenAI said you can clear browsing history or browse incognito. It also said the content browsed is not used to train the company's AI models. The company also said that the same parental controls set up for ChatGPT will carry across to Atlas. Parental controls in Atlas will also include the option for parents to turn off browser memories and agent mode. Google is the dominant internet browser, and in September, the company said it would embed its Gemini AI assistant into Chrome and later bring features to do tasks such as shopping and scheduling appointments. Meanwhile, Perplexity has already launched an AI-powered browser to streamline searches and even make Amazon purchases.

Download ChatGPT Atlas (free) for macOS | Gizmodo

ChatGPT Atlas is OpenAI's foray into the browser space, unveiled and launched on Tuesday, October 21st, 2025. This product is a turning point in web browsing history and brings artificial intelligence's might to bear on traditional browser functionality. While traditional browsers simply render web content, ChatGPT Atlas embeds OpenAI's sophisticated language models within the browsing itself so that people can communicate conversationally with their search results. The initial rollout plan is centered on MacOS customers with support for Windows, iOS, and Android platforms on tap in the coming weeks and months. This staged rollout gives OpenAI time to hone the user experience before opening it up to the larger ecosystem.The foundation of ChatGPT Atlas is still its ChatGPT interface that so many people already know so well, only now with browser-centric features added that give people a whole new way of getting around and interacting with online content on the web. One of ChatGPT Atlas's hottest features is its "browser history," which lets the AI itself learn from your browsing history as well as visited locations on the web. This means that ChatGPT can give you more tailor-made answers based on your web usage over time, so that you can enjoy a browsing experience that is truly adaptive that gets better with age.

What to know about Atlas, OpenAI's new web browser

Why it matters: People are already sharing some of their most sensitive thoughts and information with ChatGPT. * Browsing while an AI stands by, or letting the AI do the work for you, expands that dramatically. Catch up quick: Atlas is a free app that essentially combines ChatGPT and a Web browser. It's initially available for the Mac, with plans to add mobile and Windows versions. * In addition to standard browser features, Atlas offers a sidebar that lets people have a dialog with ChatGPT about the page they are browsing. * There's also an agent mode (currently only for paid subscribers) that allows Atlas to handle certain tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously. * Atlas is based on the open source Chromium engine that powers Google's Chrome, among other browsers. * While not limited to adults, OpenAI says Atlas offers parental controls similar to those recently added to ChatGPT, as well as giving parents the option to turn off certain features. What they're saying: OpenAI is trying to make sure people understand there are greater risks using Atlas, especially when using agent mode. * "Despite all of the power and awesome capabilities that you get with sharing your browser with ChatGPT, that also poses an entirely new set of risks," OpenAI's Pranav Vishnu said during a livestream. * An Atlas prompt warns: "ChatGPT is built to protect you, but there is always some risk that attackers could successfully break our safeguards to access your data, or take actions as you on logged in sites." OpenAI does have an added control that dictates, on a site-by-site basis, whether its agent is logging into a user's account or simply browsing the standard web site. * People have the option of watching the agent in action and, when doing so, have the option to stop a task or take control. * OpenAI also notes that the Atlas agent is limited to browsing and can't execute code or access local files. Between the lines: Users have a number of other choices that can add to or decrease the amount of data they are sharing. * In addition to being able to save cookies and passwords, Atlas has an optional "memories" feature that offers deeper personalization but means more of one's browsing data is being stored. (People can delete specific memories after the fact, similar to the feature in ChatGPT). * There is an incognito mode, where any browsing being done isn't linked to your ChatGPT account and isn't saved in your browser history. * Other settings dictate how much data OpenAI has access to. By default, OpenAI says it won't use Atlas browsing data to train its models. Consumers can choose to share that data with OpenAI if they want to opt-in. Yes, but: No matter which settings one chooses, Atlas is still putting more highly personal data in one place. * Even if that isn't a huge concern today, it could lead to highly targeted advertising, for example, should the company decide to head down that path. * That's also more data that could be available to governments or law enforcement should they get a court's permission or other access. Go deeper: OpenAI has more about Atlas' privacy and data controls here.

I tried ChatGPT Atlas for 24 hours, and if you're happy to give Sam Altman unadulterated control over your life, you're going to love it

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Atlas yesterday, a new web browser that implements the world's most popular chatbot directly into your internet experience. Just like the other agentic web browsers I've tried over the last few months, including Perplexity's Comet and Opera Neon, ChatGPT Atlas incorporates AI into your daily internet experience. The difference, however, is that for the 700 million-plus people who use ChatGPT as their go-to sounding board, having that be part of your online experience seems like a no-brainer. I've been using ChatGPT Atlas since it was announced by Sam Altman nearly 24 hours ago, and my experience with the web browser built for Mac, with plans to come to Windows, iOS, and Android at a later date, has been pretty eye-opening so far. As soon as you open up ChatGPT Atlas, you're greeted with a minimalist design that's almost too sanitary. That said, those who want their web browser to look simple with no frills attached, Atlas will tick those boxes. In essence, it looks like ChatGPT is a web browser, so if you like OpenAI's design language, you'll be a fan of Atlas' straight out of the gate. If not, tough luck, Atlas looks quite bland. The experience here is pretty straightforward. Open a new tab, type into the big text box in the middle of your screen, and opt to search via ChatGPT, search with Google, or head directly to a website. At first, I was annoyed that I couldn't find an option to set my default search engine, but in just a few hours, I've become accustomed to choosing between ChatGPT and Google depending on what I'm trying to access. Atlas is built on Google's Chromium engine, so you can easily incorporate all of your Chrome search history, bookmarks, and logins into OpenAI's browser, should you choose to do so. It's pretty easy to get up and running, and in no time, Atlas starts to feel like any other web browser you've used in the past. Where Atlas separates itself from the likes of Chrome and works more like Comet and Neon is by allowing you to "Ask ChatGPT" on any webpage you visit. By pressing the button on the right side of Atlas, you can quickly ask ChatGPT anything, whether that's related to your internet browsing or not. The most popular AI chatbot in the world is just part of the experience, and it works great. You can reference past chats with ChatGPT because all of its memory capabilities are available directly within Atlas, and you can even access your old ChatGPT chats directly from a sidebar on the left, exactly how it would appear in ChatGPT proper. Just like other AI-powered browsers, Atlas lets you quickly use a chatbot at the press of a button, and as someone who's thoroughly enjoyed their experience with Comet and Neon, this feels like the perfect way to interact with AI. Want to get more context for an article you're reading? Just ask ChatGPT. Need information on another tab you have open without leaving what's on your screen? ChatGPT will sort it. There are so many scenarios where an AI chatbot in your browser comes in handy, and Atlast thrives in this regard. Where Atlas separates itself from other offerings on the market is with its deep integration into ChatGPT. For the millions of people who use the AI chatbot regularly, all of those conversations and memories are now directly tied to their online browsing experience. And even better, Atlas itself has browsing memory, so you've now got a superpowered web history at your fingertips. I can't tell you the number of times I've lost track of a website I had previously visited and not found any info in my search history. With Atlas, that appears to be solved, and I've been impressed with the AI's ability to quickly find what I've been looking for based on what it remembers. Aside from having ChatGPT ready to answer any questions whenever you need it to, Atlas allows you to open sources directly into the browser, which makes ChatGPT Search far more viable than ever before. For example, say I want to find a good article about the upcoming emotionally intelligent AI pet from Casio. I can ask ChatGPT to find me some articles, and then click through via the source. Sounds pretty simple, but in the past, if you used ChatGPT Search for things like this, you'd be jumping around between the ChatGPT app and your web browser. This experience feels far smoother than ever before, and as someone who barely uses ChatGPT to search the web, I could really see myself doing this more often. Elsewhere, ChatGPT Atlas has Agent mode, which allows the browser to complete tasks for you while you go about your day, focusing on other things. It works just like Comet and Neon, though you can opt out of allowing ChatGPT to access your logged-in webpages, which feels slightly less data-intrusive than giving it full rein over your life. To test Agent mode, I asked Atlas to create a Gaming PC on PCPartPicker based on my conversations with ChatGPT earlier in the month, when I was actually deciding on what components to buy for my new computer. I left the agent to its own devices and went about my life, editing articles only to return to a completed task. Having access to AI agents in your web browser comes in handy when you least expect it, but just like the other AI browsers I've mentioned in this article, there's definitely room for improvement, as errors are still pretty common. My experience with ChatGPT Atlas has been fairly positive, and quite honestly, if you're a regular ChatGPT user, then you need to run out and download the free web browser as soon as you're done reading this article. OpenAI clearly sees a future where most people communicate with ChatGPT through Atlas, and after using the software, this feels like the next step for the AI chatbot. Having a web browser built into ChatGPT just works, and it allows you to navigate the web better than you've ever been able to do in the standalone app. That said, what if you're skeptical about ChatGPT or use it only a few times a week? Should you move your life over to Atlas? I believe OpenAI's vision here is to become the go-to ecosystem for your life. The company wants you to be able to navigate everything you do online through ChatGPT, and ultimately, Atlas is just the next step in achieving that goal. In the Atlas presentation, there was an emphasis on data and privacy, and your search history is only used to train AI models, should you opt in to allow it to do so. That said, I can't help but feel on edge about moving my online experience to an OpenAI-built product. If the near billion weekly ChatGPT users move away from the likes of Chrome, Safari, and Firefox in favor of Atlas, the reliance on AI increases, and OpenAI becomes the center of our world. I'm not naive; I know Google and other tech giants already have access to most of, if not all of, my data, but giving everything to one company as it slowly tries to build its stranglehold on our lives makes me worried for the future. Like I said in the title of this article, if you are happy to give ChatGPT control of your web browser so it can handle mundane tasks for you, answer questions based on your searches, and remind you of how you've used the internet, then Atlas is the app you've been waiting for. If, however, you have any sentiment of uneasiness towards AI and don't want it creeping into every element of your life, run away from Atlas. Not only does it showcase how OpenAI's chatbot can truly improve simple tasks, but it also makes a damn good attempt at convincing you to just accept the AI revolution. I like Atlas a lot, but I don't think I feel truly comfortable using it as my main web browser moving forward. Maybe that's because the AI-skeptic in me is still not truly convinced by the technology, or maybe it's just because I've not come to accept the inevitable future of the internet yet. In any case, Atlas is a huge step forward for ChatGPT, and I'd be shocked if it doesn't quickly become the main way people interact with AI.

Can OpenAI's Atlas get people to care about browsers again?

Not content with having hundreds of millions of users peppering ChatGPT with queries and conversations every day, OpenAI wants to further embed itself in our digital lives. This week the company released Atlas, an AI-laden web browser it hopes will challenge incumbents and be adopted at scale. Atlas is one of a raft of AI-powered browsers that have been unleashed on the market in recent months. Perplexity, the AI answer engine, has Comet. Opera, a smaller European competitor to the likes of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, released Neon, which has its own AI functionalities. OpenAI stands a better chance than most of dislodging Google Chrome, which is used by around 70 percent of all web users, according to Statcounter. But it's still hard to see how Atlas will eat into Chrome's supremacy. "It's hard to get people to change browsers," says Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Open Markets Institute who has investigated how users choose different digital services. Of course, OpenAI has good reason to feel confident. ChatGPT became a success within a matter of weeks thanks to its novel interactivity. OpenAI followed it up earlier this year with its controversial Sora 2 video generator, which gained a million users in five days. But for the average person, web browsers are decidedly less sexy.

The AI Browser War Begins | AIM

ChatGPT Atlas joins the likes of Perplexity's Comet and Opera Neon. The vibe coding battle seems to be concluding as companies race to build AI browsers. OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a standalone web browser that integrates its AI chatbot into the browsing experience. With this move, OpenAI has positioned itself as a formidable competitor to established browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, Brave, and Perplexity's Comet. ChatGPT Atlas is a wrapper of Chromium. "ChatGPT Atlas is built on Chromium, which means you can use all Chrome extensions in Atlas," wrote YouTuber, investor, and founder of Forward Future Matthew Berman in a post on X. Another user on X pointed out that Google has, in some ways, "open sourced its own obsolescence twice." The first instance was with Chromium, and the second with the publication of "Attention

OpenAI launches Atlas, a web browser powered by ChatGPT

The launch comes with a few warnings about using ChatGPT's agent capabilities directly on web. OpenAI launches Atlas, a web browser with ChatGPT fitted as its key element. The new browser takes on the search engine market directly - competing with the likes of Perplexity, the rising star in AI-powered search engines, and Google, which added Gemini to Chrome just last month. Atlas builds on ChatGPT-enabled search capabilities OpenAI had launched around this time last year. But the company says that new browser is closer to a "true super assistant". Atlas will allow users to access the AI bot on all web pages they visit without needing to copy and paste content over to ChatGPT on its website or app. Users will see an "Ask ChatGPT" button on every web page they access, clicking which will open the companion in a sidebar. The bot's memory is built into the browser, allowing it to refine conversations and "get smarter" as it is used, OpenAI said. But users can also "temporarily log out" ChatGPT from the browser by using the incognito mode. Atlas is available freely worldwide to MacOS users with the ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro and Go subscriptions. While the browser - in ChatGPT's agent mode - is available in a preview version to Plus, Pro and Business users. OpenAI said that the agent, available natively on the browser, comes with upgrades that make it better at research and automation. However, the OpenAI also warned of risks stemming from ChatGPT's agent capabilities in Atlas. The agents are "susceptible to hidden malicious instructions" found on a webpage or an email that intends to override ChatGPT's "intended behaviour", the company said, which could lead to data theft. It has added safeguards that attempt to address these new agent-related risks - including not allowing the agent to run code in the browser, download files or install extensions. The agent also cannot access other apps downloaded on to the computer, or the file system, the company said. "[But] users should weigh the trade-offs when deciding what information to provide to the agent, as well as take steps to minimise their exposure to these risks", said OpenAI. "We think that AI represents a rare once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during a livestream announcing the browser on Tuesday (21 October). Google parent Alphabet's share closed down 2pc following Atlas' launch yesterday. Google holds a major stake in the browser market with Chrome, the world's most used web browser. The launch also comes just a few weeks after OpenAI launched its new TikTok-like social app filled with AI-generated video created with its latest video generation model Sora 2. The app has received much backlash since its launch, being criticised for platforming copyrighted material, the nonconsensual use of likenesses, and false and extremist content. Despite this, Sora by OpenAI raked 1m downloads within a week since launching and currently ranks number one on iPhone app figures in the US, followed only by ChatGPT. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser with embedded AI agent - SiliconANGLE

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser with embedded AI agent OpenAI today launched ChatGPT Atlas, an artificial intelligence browser that can interact with webpages on the user's behalf. Atlas is initially available on macOS. OpenAI plans to release Windows, iOS and Android clients in the near future. Atlas is available to both free and paid ChatGPT users, but some automation features require a subscription. OpenAI's new browser has a Chrome-like interface with an "Ask ChatGPT" button on the top right corner. Clicking it launches ChatGPT in a sidebar. Users can also access the chatbot without opening the sidebar by hovering their mouse over text fields such as forms. One of Atlas' main selling points is that it reduces the amount of effort required to use ChatGPT. Usually, analyzing the contents of a webpage requires copying and pasting text into the chatbot window. In some cases, the task also requires users to switch tabs or take screenshots. Atlas makes it possible to ask ChatGPT questions about a webpage without manually uploading any data. According to OpenAI, Atlas can analyze not only open tabs but also websites that the user visited in the past. For example, it could generate a summary of e-commerce product listings that a consumer viewed last week. Users can remove webpages from Atlas' memory by deleting their browsing history. OpenAI also offers other privacy controls. By default, the AI provider won't use consumers' browsing data to train its models. Additionally, parental controls configured for a ChatGPT account automatically carry over to Atlas. Parents can disable Atlas' browser history analysis feature along and certain other capabilities, including a task automation tool called agent mode. Atlas' agent mode is an enhanced version of a feature called ChatGPT agent mode that OpenAI debuted earlier this year. According to the AI provider, it can automatically perform actions in browser tabs on the user's behalf. The tool is better than ChatGPT agent mode at tasks such as booking appointments and performing online research. Before it carries out a task, Atlas' agent mode asks for permission to open new tabs and interact with webpages. It pauses before every sensitive action to ensure users are monitoring its activity. OpenAI says the tool can't run code, download files or access other applications on the user's computer. Accessing agent mode requires a Plus, Pro or Business subscription to ChatGPT. In a blog post, OpenAI described the tool as an "early experience" and cautioned it may struggle to complete some complex tasks. That may explain why the feature is not yet accessible to users of ChatGPT's top-end Enterprise tier.

OpenAI has a bunch of fixes for its Atlas AI browser, here's what's coming very soon

What's happened? The product lead for OpenAI's new ChatGPT-powered Atlas browser has posted a post-launch fix list on X that spells out upgrades and quality-of-life changes heading to the platform very soon. In his tweet, Adam Fry revealed a checklist of improvements planned over the next few weeks, prioritizing everyday polish and reliability. Tab groups and multiprofile support are on deck, along with a shortcuts menu and a bookmarks overflow so you are not stuck scrolling. The sidebar is set to grow with a model picker, projects integration, multiple tab attachments in the composer, and cleaner @mentions to keep context intact. Reliability and housekeeping get attention too, faster first agent replies, fewer missed triggers, steadier pause states, smoother action animation, Wi-Fi captive portal support, an opt-in ad blocker, and a quick confirmation before deleting all chats. This is important because: Fry's list tells you where Atlas is going in days and weeks, not quarters. Instead of a mystery roadmap, you get a public checklist that aligns with how people actually browse and research. The plan targets common pain points first, juggling tabs, switching profiles, and keeping routine actions within easy reach. Sidebar upgrades reduce context loss, the model picker and projects integration keep choices and files in one place. Speed and stability fixes mean less waiting on the agent and fewer broken handoffs mid-task. Recommended Videos Why should I care? When Atlas smooths out tab juggling, model choice, and response speed, it pressures every AI browser that wants the top spot. Cleaner workflows with tab groups and multiprofile support, especially if you split work and personal. Fewer distractions when you want them, an opt-in ad blocker for research sprints or writing. Gentler edges, bookmarks overflow and a shortcuts list, plus captive portal support so hotel and café Wi-Fi do not derail you. Okay, so what's next? Next comes the race to be the best AI browser. Atlas will push faster, and rivals, from Comet to Google's Gemini-flavored efforts, will answer. Expect the sidebar to grow into the hub, with cleaner @mentions and a model picker that shortens the distance between a page and a task. Reliability work should ship alongside features, quicker first messages, fewer missed triggers, and a pause state that holds when it should. When tab groups and multiprofile arrive, try a heavy day in Atlas, if it stays comfortable under load, it earns a permanent slot.

OpenAI launches Atlas browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making its popular AI chatbot a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising. It could also further cut off the lifeblood of online publishers if ChatGPT so effectively feeds people summarized information that they stop exploring the internet and clicking on traditional web links. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company also sells paid subscriptions but is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one." But analyst Paddy Harrington of market research group Forrester said it will be a big challenge "competing with a giant who has ridiculous market share." OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome and holds a distant third place in market share behind Apple's Safari. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup. Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser's URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said on a video presentation aired Tuesday. A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an "agent mode" that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person's behalf, armed with a users' browser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining its process as it searches. "It's using the internet for you," Altman said. Harrington, the Forrester analyst, says another way of thinking about that is it's "taking personality away from you." "Your profile will be personally attuned to you based on all the information sucked up about you. OK, scary," Harrington said. "But is it really you, really what you're thinking, or what that engine decides it's going to do? ... And will it add in preferred solutions based on ads?" About 60% of Americans overall -- and 74% of those under 30 -- use AI to find information at least some of the time, making online searches one of the most popular uses of AI technology, according to findings from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll taken over the summer. Google since last year has automatically provided AI-generated responses that attempt to answer a person's search query, appearing at the top of results. But the reliance on AI chatbots to summarize information they collect online has raised a number of concerns, including the technology's propensity to confidently spout false information, a problem known as hallucination.

OpenAI unveils its Atlas web browser in a bid to supplant Google as the internet's universal starting point | Fortune

OpenAI unveiled a web browser on Tuesday in a bid to make its ChatGPT AI product the starting point for online access and establish itself as central pillar of the internet economy. ChatGPT Atlas, as the new browser is called, looks and works much like a standard web browser but infuses generative AI capabilities throughout the experience, putting ChatGPT front and center for everything from internet search and shopping to email. "The browser is already where a ton of work and life happens," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a livestream announcement and demo of the new browser on Tuesday. "We think that by having ChatGPT be a core way to use that... we can take this pretty far." Shares of Alphabet, whose Chrome product is the world's most popular web browser, fell 3.6% on the news, before recovering some ground and trading down 1.6% at $252.83 in midday trading Tuesday. OpenAI, which is valued at $500 billion, started the generative AI boom with the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Since then, a wave of well-capitalized companies, from Meta, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft, as well as startups like Anthropic, have invested aggressively in their own competing large language models and AI chatbots. ChatGPT Atlas will initially be available for PCs running the Mac operating system, OpenAI said. Among the features in Atlas browser is an Ask GPT button, that users can click and ask the AI bot for additional information or insight relative to the web page. The browser will also make it easy for users to set up "agents" that carry out tasks on behalf of users. ChatGPT Atlas represents a threat to Google not only as a web browser, but as a potential alternative to Google's search engine. The Atlas "home page" looks similar to the Google search home page, except that the search box at the center of the white page is ChatGPT rather than Google. A handful of links directly under the ChatGPT search box list various topics, like trending news items, personalized according to the user's history.

OpenAI Releases ChatGPT Atlas: A Chromium-Based AI Browser

OpenAI has stepped into the browser world with ChatGPT Atlas, a new AI-powered browser built on Chromium and made to blend web surfing with smart assistance. It's launching first on macOS and aims to turn the browser into an all-in-one space for searching, reading, and interacting with information more naturally. Instead of typing a search and getting just links, Atlas lets ChatGPT answer your questions right on the results page, while still showing normal listings, images, and videos. On the side, there's a handy "Ask ChatGPT" panel that stays open no matter what site you're on. You can use it to ask for summaries, get explanations, or discuss what's on the screen without opening another tab. OpenAI's idea is to make browsing and chatting flow together. The assistant can summarize long articles, help compare products, check bits of code, or edit text directly based on what's visible in the current tab. It also remembers your past interactions, so its answers get more personal and relevant over time. For paid users, Atlas unlocks some automation tools. One of them, called Operator, can handle small online tasks -- like booking a table, filling out forms, or creating a grocery list from a recipe page. There's also Cursor Chat, which lets you edit text right where you're working instead of jumping between windows. Even though it's packed with AI features, Atlas still works like a normal browser. It has tabs, bookmarks, a history manager, and password storage -- all laid out in a clean and simple design that keeps the focus on browsing. OpenAI is taking on some big names here. Competing with Chrome, Edge, and Firefox won't be easy, but Atlas's mix of chat and browsing could appeal to people who already use ChatGPT every day. It's designed for those who want to read, search, and create without constantly switching between tabs or tools. If Atlas catches on, it could push browsers in a new direction -- one where your assistant isn't just a chatbot on a website but part of the browsing experience itself.

Is OpenAI's browser worth the hype? These experts tried it out

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "To put it bluntly, it felt at times like watching a 12-year-old use my computer." That's Dr Junade Ali's assessment of the new OpenAI browser, which was released on Tuesday evening. The browser, called Atlas, appears designed to challenge Google Chrome and potentially supplant the most profitable segment of Google's parent company, Alphabet. But after testing out Atlas, AI experts have told Sky News one of its key elements feels "very clunky". As well as fully incorporating ChatGPT into the browser so it follows you around the internet, the "most exciting part" of the browser is its AI agent, according to Dr Andrea Barbon from the University of St Gallen. The feature is currently only available in "preview mode" for certain users. "When you activate the agent, you can ask it to do something, and then it will take control of your computer or your mouse," he explained after trying it out. "It will start clicking around on the website to perform the task that you requested," he said - but the feature left him disappointed, and he stopped using the browser within minutes. "I tried a couple of websites where the workflow is a bit complex and ChatGPT was just not able to handle it, not at all," he said. "After a few minutes, I closed the browser and I didn't uninstall it, but I could - I'm not going to use it, right? "Maybe I will use it in the future, if they release versions that are actually working," he said. Dr Ali, a fellow at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, said the AI agent would "struggle around a little bit to try and do the task in the most effective way and it would sometimes get stuck". "It definitely seemed very primitive - but it is a really neat concept," he said. OpenAI said its agent mode is "an early experience and may make mistakes on complex workflows". "We're rapidly improving reliability, latency and complex task success." Will it topple Google? Despite being underwhelmed by the browser, Dr Ali said OpenAI has already shown it can cause Google problems. "We do see Google struggling to keep up with the advances that OpenAI are doing," he said. OpenAI has already made a "massive dent" in the web traffic Google would usually be able to make money from, he said, through ChatGPT and people using the AI bot as a search engine. "So in that aspect, it has already been able to disrupt Google." "Google is going to respond," said Dr Barbon. "For sure, Google is gonna integrate more AI into Google Chrome. So it really depends on who is faster at achieving a working prototype. I think OpenAI is not there yet." Will this change how we use the internet? When Google launched in 1998, it changed the flow of information around the world, disrupted business models and revolutionised advertising. OpenAI are hoping Atlas has a similarly sweeping impact. During last night's launch, chief executive Sam Altman said: "AI presents a rare once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about." Read more from Sky News: Royal Navy destroyer intercepts Russian warship Storm Benjamin to bring heavy rain and winds For Dr Luke Roberts, from the Centre of Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, an AI-integrated browser could trigger societal change. "The bigger question behind this is really [about] the shift from the attention economy to the answer economy," he told Sky News. "If the conversations previously were [about] how much technology grabs your attention, I think the biggest societal shift we're gonna see is people just want the answer now." 👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 With AI making answers quicker and easier to access than ever before, Dr Roberts warned there is a risk we will become complacent about the source and veracity of that information. "We don't necessarily scrutinise the answers we're being given, we just accept them at face value," he said. "I think there's some really big shifts about to happen that we're going to need to really think quite deeply as a society."

OpenAI Targets Google Chrome With ChatGPT Atlas AI Web Browser Launch - Decrypt

The launch signals OpenAI's shift from being a chatbot provider to controlling a major browsing gateway -- a potential threat to Google Chrome's dominance. OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas on Tuesday, marking its entry into the AI browser market with a tool combining the familiar web-surfing experience with built-in AI assistance. Atlas is available initially Tuesday on macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions expected to follow. "We want to bring this to Windows and mobile users as quickly as we can," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a livestream. Built upon the open-source Chromium engine -- which also underlies Google's dominant Chrome and Microsoft Edge -- the browser is designed to tightly integrate AI-powered capabilities. That includes the agent known as Operator -- software that can autonomously fill forms, book reservations, summarize content, and assist with tasks directly within the browser environment. By becoming both the interface and the aid for browsing, OpenAI is positioning itself not just as a service accessed via browsers, but as the browser itself, thus entering a domain long ruled by Chrome -- still the default for roughly three billion users worldwide. In effect, OpenAI is attempting to shift the gateway through which users access the web, and with that, capture more of the traffic and monetization potential that flows around browsing habits, search, and attention. The move is far from guaranteed to succeed. Users are deeply entrenched in existing browsers; migrating at scale means delivering real-world value in ways that matter. The AI agent features must perform reliably, seamlessly, and securely -- only then will users consider switching. Moreover, questions over privacy and control are amplified when a browser takes on proactive agentive functions rather than simply displaying pages. As industry watchers caution, the technical execution and business model will determine whether ChatGPT Atlas becomes a significant player or simply another experiment in browser innovation. For content creators, publishers, and writers, the implications could be profound. If browsing begins to shift from manual navigation and keyword search to conversational commands and agent-driven actions, then strategies around SEO, web traffic, content discovery, and user behavior may have to evolve. In short: OpenAI's browser launch is a pivot point in how the internet might be accessed -- though we'll see whether users respond positively to the AI giant's latest move.

OpenAI unveils Google rival with 'ChatGPT Atlas' a new web browser

TL;DR: OpenAI has launched Atlas, an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT, aiming to challenge Google Chrome's dominance. Atlas replaces the traditional search bar with direct ChatGPT queries, offers content summarization, data analysis, and an AI agent mode for task automation. Currently macOS-only, wider releases are planned. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has announced "Atlas," a new AI-powered web browser that will be directly competing with Google Chrome, the most popular web browser in the world. The ChatGPT creator is looking to take away market share from Google, which currently maintains 66% of the web browser market with Google Chrome. OpenAI has announced via a new press release that Atlas is built with ChatGPT at its core, and with that, the new web browser will be removing the classic search bar that is found at the top of most popular web browsers, and instead, users will be querying ChatGPT directly, which opens via a sidebar. Notably, Atlas will also be able to summarize content on a webpage, analyze data from any site, and even compare products. Additionally, Atlas comes with an "agent mode," which enables paid users to have an AI agent interact with a website on their behalf, which means the agent can complete designated tasks such as filling out forms, researching a topic, or even completing a shopping list. OpenAI has already demonstrated how Atlas can be used to locate an online recipe, then go online to find all of the necessary ingredients to complete that recipe, and then purchase them. All without human intervention. Atlas moved to the Instacart website, added the ingredients to the cart, and carried out the purchase. The entire task took several minutes. Currently, Atlas is only available on macOS, but OpenAI plans to release Windows, iOS, and Android versions of the new browser later this year.

OpenAI launches browser with a brain powered by agentic AI

OpenAI has announced Atlas, an AI browser with agent mode that researches, automates tasks, and shops online while users browse. OpenAI has announced a new browser powered by AI, giving a glimpse into how people will navigate the web and shop online using AI agents in the future. On Tuesday, the company behind ChatGPT revealed Atlas, an AI-powered browser built around the chatbot, which is available only on MacOS for now and for paying users. The new offering has a raft of features, such as browser memories that let ChatGPT remember context from the sites users visit. However, "agent mode" is one feature that stands out. When using Atlas in agent mode, the browser can research and analyze information and automate tasks on the fly while users continue to browse. It can also open tabs and click through to complete tasks on users' behalf, explained OpenAI. "It's now better at researching and analyzing, automating tasks, and planning events or booking appointments while you browse." Atlas agent mode essentially embeds a personal assistant inside the web browser. Users can automate tasks such as organizing a dinner party with the AI agent taking a recipe, searching for stores with the ingredients, adding them to a cart, and arranging delivery. The Atlas has several safety features, including the ability to prevent running code in the browser, downloading files, or installing extensions. It cannot access other apps on users' computers or file systems and will pause before taking actions on sensitive sites, such as financial institutions. Related: Donut Labs raises $7M to launch first 'agentic' crypto browser The OpenAI browser is one of the first look into what a future with agentic AI embedded into technology could look like, while blockchain could supercharge it even further. "We've entered the era of AI agents," Frank Shaw, chief communications officer of Microsoft, said earlier this year. "This emerging vision of the internet is an open agentic web, where AI agents make decisions and perform tasks on behalf of users or organizations," he said at the time. More recently, AI "agentic commerce" was a hot topic at the Fed's Payment Innovation Conference on Tuesday, with ARK Invest's Cathie Wood, Coinbase chief financial officer Alesia Haas, and Richard Widmann, Head of Strategy at Google Cloud, extolling the virtues of AI agents for autonomous payment systems. Magazine: Ether's price to go 'nuclear,' Ripple seeks $1B XRP buy: Hodler's Digest

OpenAI launches Atlas browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI introduced its own web browser, Atlas, on Tuesday, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making its popular AI chatbot a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising. It could also further cut off the lifeblood of online publishers if ChatGPT so effectively feeds people summarized information that they stop exploring the internet and clicking on traditional web links. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company also sells paid subscriptions but is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one." But analyst Paddy Harrington of market research group Forrester said it will be a big challenge "competing with a giant who has ridiculous market share." OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome and holds a distant third place in market share behind Apple's Safari. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup. Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser's URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said on a video presentation aired Tuesday. A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an "agent mode" that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person's behalf, armed with a users' browser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining its process as it searches. "It's using the internet for you," Altman said. Harrington, the Forrester analyst, says another way of thinking about that is it's "taking personality away from you." "Your profile will be personally attuned to you based on all the information sucked up about you. OK, scary," Harrington said. "But is it really you, really what you're thinking, or what that engine decides it's going to do? ... And will it add in preferred solutions based on ads?" About 60% of Americans overall -- and 74% of those under 30 -- use AI to find information at least some of the time, making online searches one of the most popular uses of AI technology, according to findings from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll taken over the summer. Google since last year has automatically provided AI-generated responses that attempt to answer a person's search query, appearing at the top of results. Reliance on AI chatbots to summarize information they collect online has raised a number of concerns, including the technology's propensity to confidently spout false information, a problem known as hallucination. The way that chatbots trained on online content spout new writings has been particularly troubling to the news industry, leading The New York Times and other outlets to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement and others, including The Associated Press, to sign licensing deals. A study of four top AI assistants including ChatGPT and Google's Gemini released Wednesday showed nearly half their responses were flawed and fell short of the standards of "high-quality" journalism. The research from the European Broadcasting Union, a group of public broadcasters in 56 countries, compiled the results of more than 3,000 responses to news-related questions to help ascertain quality responses and identify problems to fix. -- -- Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this story.

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops running macOS and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser for macOS

The browser is currently accessible to macOS users on a global basis. OpenAI has announced plans to expand support for the application to additional platforms. OpenAI has released ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser designed to integrate its AI technology directly into the user's web experience. The browser is initially available globally for macOS systems, with future platform expansions planned by the company. A primary feature is the integration of a chat panel, which can be activated alongside a webpage. This panel is automatically populated with the context of the displayed page to facilitate more informed AI interactions. The browser also includes "Browser Memories," a function that allows ChatGPT to retain key details from a user's browsing history. This capability is intended to refine chat responses and suggestions. Users can manage this data by viewing, archiving, or clearing the stored memories through their account settings. ChatGPT Atlas introduces an experimental feature called "Agent Mode." This function permits the AI to navigate and interact with websites to complete tasks on the user's behalf, such as planning meals and ordering groceries. Throughout this automated process, the user maintains full control and possesses the ability to pause or interrupt the agent's actions at any time. The browser is currently accessible to macOS users on a global basis. OpenAI has announced plans to expand support for the application to additional platforms. The expansion will include Windows, iOS, and Android operating systems, with the release for these platforms scheduled to occur soon. But Atlas enters a battlefield already heating up. Rivals like Perplexity's Comet, The Browser Company's Arc, and Microsoft's Edge Copilot are all racing to fuse generative intelligence with everyday browsing. Google, still dominant through Chrome, is quietly preparing its own Gemini-powered integrations.

I was on the fence about ChatGPT Atlas, but these planned updates could make me ditch Chrome

After a lot of big talk about changing the world of search, OpenAI has finally taken action, releasing its first-ever AI browser. Known as ChatGPT Atlas, it runs on the same software as Google Chrome, just with an OpenAI flair to it. Most notably, that means that ChatGPT follows you around the web, helping you read web pages, and taking on actions on your behalf, like tracking down flight deals or finding good recipes for your dinner party. However, while ChatGPT Atlas is a notable step-up in the world of AI and browsing, I couldn't help but feel like some key features were missing. Luckily, just days after its launch, OpenAI is already apparently planning major upgrades. "We've received incredible feedback since launching our new browser, ChatGPT Atlas, yesterday. We're really focused on building the best product for all of you, and since launch, the team has been heads down making it better," Adam Fry, product lead for ChatGPT Atlas, posted on X. "In the spirit of transparency, these are the very short-term things we're fixing over the coming weeks, though some may take a little longer (profiles, tab groups, opt-in ad blocker)." The list that he included is surprisingly long (as you can see below), but there are some highlights worth picking out. This was a big factor for me that was missing, and one that was echoed by our managing editor of security and home office content. At launch, Atlas only let you have one account connected. That meant that if you used your laptop for both work and personal life, you would have to log out of one account each time to open the other. While Fry didn't say if there would be a limit to the number of accounts, being able to log into at least two would solve a major problem for users. Tab groups are a feature that you either love or hate. If you're the type of person who never closes anything but still likes organization, this will be music to your ears. For me, I fall into the category of organization for tabs. I stand firmly on the idea that your browser should lack chaos. So, this is news to my ears, allowing me to group all of my current tabs into neat categories. Just like ChatGPT, this will allow you to decide which version of the AI model you'll be utilising while on Atlas. This, most importantly, can let you choose how much time and effort you to give to a task. For example, using a thinking model to help plan a long holiday, but using a faster model if you're just asking what is meant by a particular phrase in an article. Ad blockers being provided by a browser is always a surprising move. While it isn't clear how this will work, there is a good chance it will be locked behind a paid plan from OpenAI to justify the loss of ad revenue. It is also unclear how and which ads it will block, but its nice to see these kind of features baked directly into the product. A lot of the updates can be listed simply under 'agent.' The built-in AI assistant that can take on tasks for you will get a more reliable 'pause' state, as well as seeing improvements in its chain-of-thought animation, and become faster in its time to send its first message. There are a lot of important updates in this list, and while it is not clear when each of them will roll out, it is promising to see OpenAI be open about the plans for the search engine. As time goes on, hopefully Atlas can evolve alongside what its fans and users want to see from the model. Fry makes it clear in his X posts that the company is looking into what the public wants and taking this on board.

OpenAI launches web browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in challenge to Google

Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program. OpenAI said Tuesday it is launching an artificial intelligence-powered website browser, heightening the company's competition with Google, the Alphabet-owned unit that has long dominated online search. The new browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, is for now only available on Apple laptops that run the company's Mac operating system. Access will soon expand to Apple's iOS, Microsoft Windows and Google's Android platforms, OpenAI said. In the company's launch video, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described Atlas as an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT that will allow people to converse with web pages. In a video presentation, he also expressed confidence that a chatbot interface will eventually supplant a traditional browser's URL bar. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said. OpenAI has said ChatGPT has more than 800 million users, although the San Francisco-based company has yet to turn a profit. Google's Chrome browser has roughly 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features drawing on the company's Gemini AI technology.

OpenAI unveils search browser in challenge to Google

San Francisco (United States) (AFP) - ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Tuesday announced an "Atlas" search browser, leveraging its artificial intelligence prowess in a direct challenge to Google Chrome. "This is an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT," OpenAI chief Sam Altman said in a streamed presentation. OpenAI has ramped up its challenge to Google, which has responded by rapidly building more AI capabilities into search and across its platform. Altman and a team of executives demonstrated an "agent" mode that has a chatbot conduct searches on a user's behalf. Altman said that in agent mode, ChatGPT uses the web browser independently, returning with what it finds. "It's got all your stuff and is clicking around," Altman said. "You can watch it or not, you don't have to, but it's using the internet for you." Atlas will go live Tuesday on computers powered by Apple's operating system free of charge, but agent mode will only be available to users of paid Plus or Pro versions of ChatGPT, according to Altman. "We want to bring this to Windows and to mobile devices as quickly as we can," Altman said, without providing a timeline. "This is still early days for this project." Some Atlas offerings demonstrated in the stream seemed similar to features already incorporated into Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge internet search browsers. Pressure on Google Tech industry rivals Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Elon Musk's xAI have been pouring billions of dollars into artificial intelligence since the blockbuster launch of the first version of ChatGPT in late 2022. "OpenAI's browser puts pressure on Google," Emarketer technology analyst Jacob Bourne told AFP. "This is another step in the AI race as tech companies try to make their AI interfaces the first point of contact for internet users." OpenAI has an opportunity to ride the popularity of ChatGPT to win people over to its browser, according to the analyst. However, Bourne noted that Google has a significant infrastructure advantage in terms of providing browser capabilities to billions of users. A big question is how well Atlas will perform when under pressure from the kinds of user volume handled by Google, he added. The debut of Atlas comes on the heels of Google escaping a breakup of its Chrome browser in a major US competition case, but with the judge imposing remedies whose impact remains uncertain just as AI starts to compete with search engines. Judge Amit Mehta, who found a year ago that Google illegally maintained monopolies in online search, did not order the company to sell off its widely-used Chrome browser. Instead, he ordered remedies including requirements to share data with other firms so they could develop their own search products, and barring exclusive deals to make Google the only search engine on a device or service. Mehta himself noted that the landscape has changed since the US Justice Department and 11 states launched their antitrust case against Google in 2020. Challenges OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft have been ramping up challenges to Google, which dominates the online search market where it earns most of its revenue through targeted advertising. OpenAI recently unveiled a new feature for ChatGPT, the leading generative AI model with 800 million weekly users, enabling it to interact with everyday apps like Spotify and Booking.com. The new functionality enables ChatGPT to interact with various apps to select music, search for real estate or explore hotel and flight booking sites. Meanwhile, Perplexity AI in August announced a new model for sharing search revenue with publishers. The company's media partners will get paid when their work is used by Perplexity's Comet browser or AI assistant to satisfy queries or requests, according to the San Francisco-based startup. Perplexity is one of Silicon Valley's hottest startups, whose AI-powered search engine is often mentioned as a potential disruptor to Google. Google shares were down slightly more than one percent in trading that followed OpenAI announcing Atlas.

OpenAI has a new web browser ready for launch

Why it matters: The move is likely to intensify the battle over how humans -- and their AI agents -- experience the internet. * The company announced Atlas Tuesday as a way to chat with your web browser. Zoom out: OpenAI isn't the first AI company to see the value in having a browser. Perplexity has Comet, while Google and Microsoft have their existing browsers that could become real estate for future AI features. * The moves come as traffic from bots is expected to surpass that from humans in the coming years. Between the lines: Atlas lets you take ChatGPT with you as you browse the web. * "Tabs are great but we haven't seen a whole lot of innovation since then," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a livestream. * Atlas includes an "Ask ChatGPT" sidebar that allows you to ask questions about the web pages you visit. * Atlas will be live worldwide for Mac users Tuesday, with the agent mode limited to paid Plus and Pro subscribers. * "We want to bring this to windows and mobile users as quickly as we can," Altman said. Combining ChatGPT and the browser offers powerful capabilities, but also raises issues around privacy and security. * OpenAI says Atlas users can choose to be logged into accounts or not and can browse in "incognito" mode. Zoom in: Agent mode in Atlas lets the AI engine handle certain tasks more autonomously. * "You can watch it or you don't have to," Altman said. * In a demo, OpenAI showed there is a "take control" and a red "stop" buttons when the browser is taking action in Agent mode. The big picture: OpenAI has been taking steps to morph into its own kind of platform or operating system, with a barrage of announcements in the past month. * ChatGPT Pulse is a kind of centralized dashboard that prompts users with proactive updates based on chat history. * The Sora app for creating and sharing AI-generated video is OpenAI's shot across the social bow at Meta and TikTok. * The company opened up ChatGPT to developers in early October. Users can summon apps like Spotify and Zillow, asking for them by name in a chat. * It's also been building the ability to buy goods from within ChatGPT, with Etsy as its first partner, to be followed by a host of Shopify apps. Walmart says a new ChatGPT instant checkout experience is "coming soon." What they're saying: "We think that AI represents a rare once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one and how to most productively and pleasantly use the web," Altman said as part of the announcement. What to watch: How quickly users adopt the new browser, and whether it can make a dent in Chrome's dominant market share.

OpenAI launched a ChatGPT Atlas Browser - here are the 5 things you need to know

OpenAI has officially launched the ChatGPT Atlas AI-powered web browser today for macOS users around the world. Windows, iOS, and Android versions are on the way, with a 'coming soon' timeframe. ChatGPT Atlas folds ChatGPT capabilities directly into the browser. So, instead of switching tabs to talk to a chatbot, the assistant is baked into the browsing experience. OpenAI has built Atlas around the idea that the web isn't just a place to look at things, but also a place to complete all sorts of tasks. ChatGPT Atlas also positions itself as a challenger to Google Chrome by reimagining what a browser can do when it stops being passive. While Chrome remains the default for millions thanks to speed, sync, and its massive extension ecosystem, it still largely acts as a still window to the web. Any actions are up to the user, while AI-assisted browsers like Atlas actively participate. Here are five things to know about how it works, what makes it different, and what it means for your relationship with the web. Atlas wasn't designed to look like a regular browser with a chatbot tacked on. Instead, OpenAI has taken the tools, logic, and interface of ChatGPT and created a browser around them. You don't just visit a website and then open ChatGPT to ask a question. Instead, you ask for a summary or for help booking a hotel "like this one but cheaper," and Atlas understands that you want action, not just answers. ChatGPT serves as a live assistant, visible in its own window by default. From there, you can ask it to write emails, make a spreadsheet, or plan a trip without switching tabs. This alone gives Atlas more power than traditional browsers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has a much more expansive vision, however. He and his team see Atlas as the template for interactions between humans and AI, where the digital assistant isn't waiting for a request, but serving as an active navigator online. ChatGPT Atlas includes an opt-in feature called browser memories, which allows ChatGPT to remember details from your browsing history, much like it already remembers details from your conversations. These memories offer contextualized references that ChatGPT can recall when you ask questions later. ChatGPT won't need you to repeat yourself and can find the sites you visited, the comparisons you made, and even the bookmarks you might have forgotten. For example, you can say, "Find the apartments I was looking at last week and tell me which ones are closest to a dog park," or "Help me finish that outline I started for my travel blog." Memories are optional, private to your ChatGPT account, and visible in your settings. You can view, archive, or delete them at any time. You can also browse in incognito mode or toggle off memory on specific sites. The biggest shift from traditional browsers for Atlas is the agent mode, which is reminiscent of the Operator tool OpenAI currently offers. Agent mode is still in preview and available only to Plus, Pro, and Business users for now, but essentially, it allows ChatGPT to perform multi-step tasks inside your browser, albeit with your supervision. It's more than just autocomplete. You can ask it to plan a dinner party and put recipes together for it, or compare multiple websites and analyze their differences in a slide deck. ChatGPT will open tabs, read content, pull information, and even start formatting the results. But while agent mode gives the browser the ability to click, scroll, and interact with sites, it can't download files, install anything, or access your file system. And it will ask permission on more sensitive sites like your bank. There are many other safeguards it's put in place, but there's a reason agent mode remains experimental. If it goes wrong, it's much worse than a confusingly written email. Given the power Atlas grants ChatGPT, it's no surprise that OpenAI put a lot of thought into user control. There's a clear, persistent visibility toggle in the address bar, and incognito browsing is always an option. You can manage memories in settings and prevent any site you visit from triggering memory creation. For families, the control goes further. If a parent has set up ChatGPT supervision for a child, those restrictions carry over into Atlas. Parents can turn off memory and agent mode entirely for supervised accounts. Those privacy features will likely help Atlas stand out as it faces plenty of rivals from AI-enhanced browsers. They range from The Browser Company's Dia and Opera Neon to Perplexity's new Comet browser But Atlas, as the name suggests, wants to carry more of the load of your web experience. ChatGPT isn't just reading or summarizing; it's participating and helping you complete tasks and linking them to your conversations with the chatbot. You can start a task in ChatGPT, continue it in Atlas, and jump back into ChatGPT later without losing track. It's a huge change from Chrome, despite its easy-to-use appeal. Chrome might let you open a dozen tabs, but Atlas helps you summarize them, remembers that you visited them, and can even manipulate them or fill out forms within them on your behalf. In that way, Atlas isn't about beating Chrome when it comes to simplicity or speed, but about reimagining what a web browser is for, and making it more active as a result. Atlas likely won't be for everyone. There are likely elements like research or organization where Atlas' rivals win out, but if you're a ChatGPT user already, Atlas will probably feel fairly seamless as an addition to your toolkit. And the idea of an AI assistant acting inside your browser may feel a little too close for comfort. But for anyone who has ever opened 27 tabs to research a single topic, tried to reconstruct a shopping journey from memory, or wasted time redoing something they half-finished days ago, Atlas offers something tantalizing, at least if it can keep it all straight and private.

ChatGPT Atlas Browser Brings AI-Powered Browsing to Your Desktop - Phandroid

OpenAI has announced ChatGPT Atlas, its first AI-powered web browser that puts ChatGPT intelligence directly into your browsing experience. The ChatGPT Atlas browser enters the same space as Perplexity's Comet and other "agentic browsers," blending everyday web navigation with full AI capabilities for a smarter, context-aware way to research and automate tasks. Atlas is built around ChatGPT, not just an add-on. It sits natively inside every webpage, letting users highlight text in forms or articles to summarize, rewrite, or analyze content in real time without switching tabs. This deep integration sets it apart from traditional browser alternatives that rely on extensions or separate tools. Key features include Agent Mode, which performs complex web tasks like booking appointments or comparing products directly inside the browser. Browser Memories offer optional AI memory that recalls context from past sessions, like summarizing job listings you viewed last week. Smart Tabs provide a unified "new tab" interface combining chat, links, images, and videos for one-stop searching. The browser launches first on macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions coming soon. Both browsers are leading the AI-native web experience, but they differ in their focus. Atlas feels like ChatGPT with a built-in browser, featuring deep integration for browsing and task automation. Its interface uses a familiar Chrome-like layout with an optional chat sidebar. Meanwhile, Comet feels like a browser built around Perplexity's search AI, offering a minimalist, table-less design emphasizing workflows over navigation. OpenAI is betting on productivity and contextual recall through Browser Memories that offer long-term recall of browsing sessions. Perplexity's approach focuses on real-time research with an AI Assistant that understands context across multiple tabs. Atlas uses Agent Mode for handling planning, research, and bookings, while Comet offers shortcut-based automation using prebuilt AI commands. This new wave of AI browsers marks a broader shift away from traditional search engines and toward AI-driven discovery. Browsers like the ChatGPT Atlas browser and Comet could soon replace the idea of "tab overload" with dynamic, memory-enabled assistants that remember your past work. Similar to how OpenAI's search features challenged Google, Atlas represents another front in the battle for how we access information online. Atlas also raises the bar for privacy control. Browser memories are opt-in, stored locally, and easy to manage or delete. Perplexity takes a similar approach to transparency, offering users toggles for what data AI can see. As AI becomes more integrated into our daily workflows, these privacy considerations become increasingly important for users who want intelligence without surveillance. You can download ChatGPT Atlas here, but note that it is only on macOS for now. It is available for OpenAI's Free, Plus, Pro and Go users.

Here comes the ChatGPT browser that no one's going to use

OpenAI just took the stage to unveil ChatGPT Atlas, and you could almost feel the collective sigh as users worldwide rolled their eyes. As the foremost LLM chatbot company continues struggling to monetize and legitimize its often uninspiring, yet admittedly impressive software, it's fair to wonder how the latest novel product could possibly take off. Amid existing browsers trying (and failing) to successfully integrate AI in ways the public actually appreciates, Atlas certainly seems like more of the same -- and it doesn't look like it will suddenly kick off an agentic AI revolution. AI browsers surfing the AI-packed web It's artificial intelligence all the way down It's easy to see the biggest roadblock to Atlas' success. Countless AI tools already exist in various forms, including browser extensions, web-based interfaces, and mobile apps. That kind of overlapping product territory makes it unlikely a primarily ChatGPT-centered browser will offer a significantly flexible feature set. Then there's the ever-present set of trust issues. Free users' interactions are reserved for training future models -- and, make no mistake, most ChatGPT users are on the free tier -- opening the floodgates of skepticism toward a browser that looks mostly like a vehicle for more data harvesting. Given the various controversies that have always haunted the premier chatbot, that apprehension seems well-placed. Furthermore, OpenAI isn't just grasping at straws -- it's grasping at a lot of them. Between the constant development of its multiple AI models, the increasing push for actually effective agentic capabilities, and the back-and-forth adjustment of the software's various guiderails, an entire ground-up browser is just one more chainsaw for Sam Altman's company to juggle. Atlas is currently available on macOS only, with support incoming for Windows, iOS, and Android. As previously rumored on Bleeping Computer, it's a Chromium-based affair (it's not like there are many browser platforms to choose from, after all), just like the recently released and somewhat fraught Perplexity Comet. Naturally, Atlas sports a built-in chat interface (because apparently navigating to the website is too difficult). Also, unsurprisingly, it incorporates a ChatGPT agentic operator, but don't expect it to be particularly effective anytime soon. At least, security experts don't exactly recommend entrusting it with sensitive personal details like payment card information or identification documents just yet, so it will be some time before it can book an all-inclusive vacation for you. ChatGPT isn't generally considered the most effective AI tool for coding, either, so don't plan on handing off your software-building needs like Opera's Neon browser aims to do competently. The one thing we can guarantee about ChatGPT Atlas is that, following today's announcement, it will generate both a significant amount of hype, and a decent bit of ire. OpenAI and its competitors have been forcing AI down our throats for over two years now, and that doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon.

OpenAI Launches Web Browser to Compete With Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

Move Over Chrome: OpenAI Launches Atlas Browser

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops running macOS and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

OpenAI launches web browser ChatGPT Atlas: How to start using it

Related video above: Trump hosts tech CEOs amid calls for AI regulation (NEXSTAR) - OpenAI announced Tuesday it is launching a ChatGPT-powered web browser called Atlas that will compete directly with widely-used Google Chrome. The news appeared to ripple into the stock market, as the share price of Google's parent company, Alphabet, sank on the announcement. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one." ChatGPT itself has surpassed 800 million users, according to OpenAI, but the tool is free. If OpenAI's browser sees the same mass adoption, the world's most valuable startup could start generating revenue from digital advertising. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. How to start using Atlas OpenAI made ChatGPT Atlas available worldwide on macOS Tuesday, and versions for Windows iOS and Android are coming soon, according to the company's announcement. Mac users can download Atlas and drag it into the Applications folder. To launch the browser, open Atlas and sign in with one's ChatGPT account information. Users will then see prompts asking if they would like to import data from other browsers, allow keychain access, enable "browser memories," or make Atlas the default browser. Enabling browser memories lets ChatGPT recall pages that a user has visited before and use that context to personalize future searches, or quickly pull up something you saw before. What makes Atlas new? "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," Altman said. Altman said he hopes Atlas fundamentally shifts how people interact with the web, and sees future internet use relying on a combination of chat experience and web browser, similar to how people currently use the url bar and search box. One of the main new features is agent mode, which is currently only available in preview for Plus, Pro and Business users. The tool is "better at researching and analyzing, automating tasks and planning events or booking appointments while you browse," according to OpenAI. In one example during the introduction video, the team prompted ChatGPT to list the amounts of different ingredients needed to make a recipe for eight people. With agent mode enabled, Atlas went ahead and filled an Instacart order from Safeway, the grocery store it chose based on browser history. While product lead Pranav Vishnu mentioned multiple times during the example that the agent could be turned off at any moment, he added that Atlas users will have potentially crucial, new considerations to make. "Despite all of the power and awesome capabilities you get with sharing your browser with ChatGPT, that also imposes an entirely new set of risks," Pranav said. He assured livestream viewers that agent only operates on tabs and can't execute code on one's computer or access other files. Upon opening a new tab, users will have to decide whether or not they want ChatGPT agent to be logged in or out. Similarly to other browsers, an incognito tab can be opened to search for something without involving agent. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New AI browsers could usher in a web where agents do our bidding -- eventually

Atlas goes beyond fetching web content. It offers to act as the user's agent, interacting with websites on the user's behalf. This could mean planning a theater date (complete with dinner reservations, for example) or buying concert tickets when they become available. This kind of autonomous agent is something of a holy grail, both for AI labs trying to build enterprise (work) AI and companies building consumer AI. I've heard numerous tech company executives talk as if agents are already advanced enough to make a big difference in business and personal life. Other execs and experts I've spoken with say that the agent revolution will not happen this year, and maybe not even next year. That's because the AI models behind the agents still aren't good enough to reason through complex tasks. They also still can't process all the contextual information needed to safely complete high-stakes tasks involving real money (like all the small considerations involved in booking a plane ticket), influential AI researcher (and OpenAI cofounder) Andrej Karpathy points out in a recent podcast. There are other hurdles, too. An entire technology ecosystem must form to accommodate new AI agents, says Devi Parikh, co-CEO of the agentic AI company Yutori. The websites and services of today are built for human users, so agents must learn how to click buttons, scroll pages, and search menus. They might work more reliably if they could exchange data with a website or service via an application programming interface (API) or some other secure and standardized handshake. Because it's so crucial that users trust these AI agents, she says, AI companies would be wise to err on the conservative side in talking about what AI agents can really do; giving users a bad first impression could damage trust and make them hesitant to rely on agents. While Atlas is getting lots of attention, Google has been (more quietly) upgrading its Chrome browser with AI. Just last month, the company added a spate of features that make its Gemini AI a bigger part of Chrome, saying that the browser is "entering a new era powered by AI." Within Chrome, Gemini can summarize content, organize tabs, and ask questions about web pages. Google's new AI search function, now called "AI Mode," shows up at the top of a wider range of searches and can also be called up using a keyboard shortcut.

OpenAI Takes On Google Chrome and Comet With ChatGPT Atlas Browser | AIM

Atlas is available starting today on macOS for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users, with beta access for Business, Enterprise, and Education accounts. OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a new web browser that integrates ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience. The company said the launch marks a step toward creating a super-assistant that helps users perform tasks and access information without leaving the page. Atlas is available starting today on macOS for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users, with beta access for Business, Enterprise, and Education accounts. Versions for Windows, iOS, and Android are expected soon. The new browser builds on OpenAI's earlier addition of web search to ChatGPT. Users can download Atlas from chatgpt.com/atlas and import bookmarks, passwords, and history from their existing browsers. According to OpenAI, Atlas allows ChatGPT to assist users directly on web pages, eliminating the need to switch tabs or copy and paste. "With Atlas, ChatGPT can come with you anywhere across the web -- helping you in the window right where you are, understanding what you're trying to do, and completing tasks for you," the company said in a statement. The browser also supports ChatGPT's memory feature, enabling it to recall information from previous chats and browsing activity to provide more relevant assistance. These "browser memories" are optional and can be viewed, archived, or deleted at any time. OpenAI clarified that deleting browsing history also removes any associated memories. Yogya Kalra, a college student and early tester of Atlas, said the integration has changed how she studies. "I used to switch between my slides and ChatGPT, taking screenshots just to ask a question," she said. "Now ChatGPT instantly understands what I'm looking at, helping me improve my knowledge checks as I go." Atlas also includes "agent mode," a feature that enables ChatGPT to complete tasks like researching, analysing data, or booking appointments while users browse. The mode is available in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business users. The launch of Atlas places OpenAI in direct competition with a growing set of AI browsers and assistants. Perplexity AI recently introduced Comet, a browser designed to automate web tasks and multi-step workflows. Microsoft has added Copilot Mode to its Edge browser, which uses GPT-based assistance to organise tabs and summarise web pages. Google Chrome recently integrated its Gemini model to offer conversational search and better web understanding. Brave's built-in assistant, Leo, provides privacy-focused AI tools for summarising and writing. Opera is also experimenting with agentic browsing and launched Opera Neon, a fully agentic browser that can browse, perform actions, and assist users by operating independently based on their intent.

24 hours in, OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser is already surprising me

The future of browsing is now firmly tied to AI chatbots. How deeply it can speed up mundane tasks will dictate the winner. OpenAI has finally entered the crowded world of web browsers with ChatGPT Atlas. Aside from the obvious stand-off with Chrome, which is now getting increasingly AI-friendly, Atlas goes against AI-first browsers such as Perplexity's Comet, Dia, and Opera Neon. For now, Atlas is exclusive to macOS, but mobile and Windows versions are in development, as well. I've spent 24 hours with OpenAI's Atlas browser, and so far, it has been an impressive journey with a few hiccups. It does a few things differently from what Chrome and Safari present, without pushing a big learning curve. Feels more like home than other AI browsers The design is extremely clean and familiar, while the foundations are built atop Chromium. That means all your extensions, bookmarks, history, and log-ins will be imported seamlessly. Simply put, it should feel like home. The homepage has a unified search tool where the business begins. Recommended Videos The sidebar is where things get interesting. On the collapsing left pane, you get all your familiar ChatGPT controls, such as Search, Library, custom GPTs, Codex, and your chat history. On the opposite edge, you get a dedicated sidecar that opens when you tap the "Ask ChatGPT" button in the upper-right corner. This side panel is now a staple across Chrome, Edge, Comet, Dia, and Opera Neon. Think of it as a collapsible tab where the AI chatbot can answer your questions, conduct background research, and more -- without having to open another tab. It's a neat way to avoid clutter. On the home page, you tap on the "+" button in the search field to access all the core ChatGPT modes, such as Canvas, Deep Research, and Image Creation. The more notable additions are browser memory and agent mode. Browser memory is the secret sauce of ChatGPT Atlas. Think of it as history, one where all your search queries, work, and chats pertaining to a certain topic or website are clustered together. So, let's say I have a vague memory of an article that talks about turning cement into a power source, but I don't quite remember the website or the headline. I can simply type the vague recollection of it, and Atlas will find it. You don't have to do a keyword-specific hunt in the history section of a typical browser. Alternatively, you can also check a log of all activity on a certain website. By default, it will also look into your past chat history and pull those logs up, as well, and not just browsing history. It's intrusive, but thankfully, you can separately disable the toggles for referencing chat and browsing memory. You can clear all browsing memory, too. But to clear chat history, you have to visit the data control dashboard, or delete it from your ChatGPT web or mobile dashboard, as long as you are signed in with the same account. A bit of standout surprise What stood out for me was familiarity. In Dia, as you type your query, the universal search bar switches between Google and Chat mode automatically. In Comet, you get results the same way you see in Perplexity, as an answering engine. In ChatGPT Atlas, the results appear across five dedicated categories, similar to the classic Google Search experience. The home is where you get ChatGPT's answers. Next to it is the Search format (similar to the traditional Google Search view), sitting alongside images, videos, and the news coverage page. Atlas doesn't alienate you entirely from the vanilla internet search experience, but still offers a unique experience of its own courtesy of ChatGPT. That's a huge victory, especially for early adopters, and it's something no AI browser has managed to serve so far. OpenAI's Atlas pulls off a few tricks that its rival AI browsers can't. For example, it turns the cursor into an access point for quick assistance. Broadly, the premise is similar to Writing Tools that arrived in Apple Intelligence. Let's say you're writing a report and want to do a quick fact verification or background check, something that would require opening another browser tab. With the always-on ChatGPT cursor, you can simply click on the green dot, expand it into a text bubble, and shoot your query to get the answers. It also works in any open text field, irrespective of where you are typing. Aside from quick research, it also helps you rewrite or compose written material on the fly. It may feel somewhat repetitive because you can do the same in the ChatGPT sidecar that is always a click away. I think the actionable cursor is there for scenarios where you are working across multiple app windows in split-screen mode. And in those scenarios, opening the ChatGPT sidebar will only cramp up the working (or viewing area) in the active Atlas window. It's a thoughtful addition, something I haven't seen in other mainstream AI browsers such as Dia and Comet. Agent mode shows potential Next, we have another marquee feature called Agent Mode, which can handle tasks autonomously on your behalf. For the sake of privacy, ChatGPT Atlas offers the flexibility of visiting websites and completing tasks autonomously in both logged-in and logged-out modes. Now, from the get-go, for websites that require a login each time before you even begin interacting with them, Agent Mode may not work. I pushed the prompt (in the image below) and the AI agent followed it pretty accurately, finally landing at the checkout page on Amazon's website. It matched my criteria of finding a screen protector with an anti-glare surface for the iPhone 17 Pro, and selected the option that delivered within the specified date, with regard to the location it picked from my browser preference. Depending on the complexity of the task at hand, it can take more time. That's because the Agent apes the human steps of visiting a website, finding a product, clicking on it to check if it meets the criteria, going back, and then launching a fresh search for the next item. But the potential of agent mode runs deeper. For example, I wanted to quickly read the findings of cybersecurity companies and a few research papers that discuss the risks of agentic web browsers. I asked the AI agent in Atlas to do that, with a brief summary and source links tagging along. The whole task was finished in roughly two minutes, but if I asked it to launch a Deep Research request, it would take 10 minutes or more to create a comprehensive report. Alternatively, if I went to Google Search, I would likely not find the best resources because of Google's ranking algorithms for search results. So, it's likely that I would be on a wild goose chase to find the articles and research papers I needed. In a nutshell, Agent Mode for search is the quicker and more precise stop-gap solution between an unpredictable Google Search and a lengthy Deep Research report. Comparatively, it is slower than the Agent Mode in Comet. Perplexity's browser was much faster at ordering groceries from Amazon, looking up hotel rooms, and finding car rentals. I asked both browsers to look up the most recent embargo agreements in my Gmail inbox. Comet pulled a list in roughly 15 seconds, while Agent Mode took four minutes. Another benefit of Comet is that it lets you pick between the latest Claude, Grok, Gemini, and GPT models, in addition to the in-house Sonar model. In Atlas, your only choice is GPT-series AI models. To Atlas' credit, it lets you take over at any stage, and for sensitive tasks such as looking at your inbox or calendar, the agent mode works only when you are actively looking at the tab. For less mundane agentic tasks, you can let them happen in the background. A few misses OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser is a promising start, but it's also missing a handful of features, especially when compared against the likes of Dia and Comet. But they also offer a convenience that isn't available on Atlas. That missing capability is multi-tab awareness. In the other two, you can simply use an "@" shortcut in the chatbot sidecar and pull information from all the selected tabs. For example, if you have a dozen Amazon tabs to shop for a washing machine, you can combine the product details from all the tabs, create a comparison table, and find all the information neatly cataloged to help you make the right decision. Multi-tab actions are not only helpful for shopping and booking vacations, but also for research and narrowing down the information pool. Another crucial miss is the system of skills, or shortcuts. These shortcuts, which can be created using simple natural language commands, help automate tasks. ChatGPT Atlas somewhat makes up for it with custom GPTs, which are created with the same ease as skills in Dia and shortcuts in Comet. There's even a dedicated store where you can find useful custom GPTS. But there's a big difference. Custom GPTs don't work in the same tab, and they also can't be summoned in the ChatGPT side panel. Shortcuts and skills in the rival AI browsers work in the same tab -- either in the universal search bar or the AI assistant side panel. This makes it much easier to work on a webpage. Overall, ChatGPT Atlas is a solid start in the right direction. It has a clean UI, snappy interactions, and plenty of features -- all built around the ChatGPT experience. I'm sure it will evolve faster and fix papercuts at a rapid pace. ChatGPT Altas also has exposure to a much wider user base than Perplexity's Comet, so it has that benefit, as well. All that brings us to the big question, especially in the light of AI browser risks flagged by cybersecurity experts and privacy advocates: AI companies are hungry for data. Will you trust your personal information and professional web activity with an AI company that is currently scraping the bottom of the barrel for more data? Or will you wait for Google or Safari to catch up?

ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser First Impressions

* ChatGPT Atlas is currently available on macOS * The AI browser was launched on October 21 * Paid subscribers also have access to agentic capabilities OpenAI launched its third consumer-facing product and its first artificial intelligence (AI) browser on Tuesday. Dubbed ChatGPT Atlas, the browser makes a late entry in the market, trailing after The Browser Company's Dia browser and Perplexity's Comet browser. It also follows pages from their playbook with features such as a sidebar assistant, a homepage which is reminiscent of its chatbot's interface, and agentic capabilities. And all three of them are Chromium-based browsers, meaning the basic functionalities remain the same. A combination of all these factors puts ChatGPT Atlas in a tricky situation, as it must compete with established products and user bases. While it does have the label of a bigger brand, is that all the GPT-5-powered (or GPT-4o after you've run out of tokens in the free tier) AI browser has to offer? Here are our first impressions about OpenAI's first foray into the browser segment. ChatGPT Atlas: Design and User Interface ChatGPT Atlas, which is currently only available on macOS, comes with a minimalist design, similar to its other AI apps. The browser has a default colour scheme of black and white, which will immediately remind users of ChatGPT. And it should, because the home page is essentially just the ChatGPT interface, complete with the recent conversations side panel, text box, and centrally placed OpenAI logo. The rest of the browser follows the macOS design language, with app shortcuts placed in the top left corner and new tabs denoted by rectangles with rounded corners and a plus icon. The user interface (UI) does change a little bit after you type (or speak) your query, but the basic design remains the same. ChatGPT Atlas home tab Unlike ChatGPT, typing a query here takes you to a new page. While the URL says "chatgpt.com", the UI is somewhat different. There are five different icons at the top -- home, web search, images, videos, and news. Apart from the home tab, the functionality is the same as the name suggests. The home tab is essentially the one-on-one AI-human interaction you get in ChatGPT. There are minor changes, however. As soon as the response begins, you will see URLs that are most relevant to the query. This is followed by several images of the query topic. Then, the typical AI-generated response begins, and at the end, the AI suggests a follow-up question. ChatGPT Atlas Features and Limitations Before we get into the features, it should be noted that I did not test the "browser memory" feature. Since it is essentially a personalisation tool that requires using the browser for a longer period to see the impact, it did not fit into the practicality of a first impressions story. We were also not able to test out the agentic capabilities because that is reserved for the paid subscribers. Interestingly, if you ask a query to ChatGPT Atlas and tap into the web search tab, it will show you search results similar to any typical search engine. However, I was surprised to see that you cannot open multiple pages here. It is one page with like 10-15 results, and that's it. I'm not sure how OpenAI is ranking these pages either, but the fact that I'm limited to a small number of options makes the web search functionality unusable. ChatGPT Atlas news tab Images, videos, and news tabs also suffer from the same issue. Maybe the idea here is to trust the AI, and it will surface the best results, but in my brief testing, that was not what I observed. Most of the surfaced results were tightly tied to keywords, and it felt like I was subjected to a poorly designed website's search bar that does not go beyond surface-level sorting. But you can still look past this obvious downside since it is essentially a browser, and its home screen experience is not the hero feature. Just stick to Google Search and you will be fine. Speaking of the hero feature, the sidebar assistant is powered by the same AI model as your ChatGPT account. It can perform basic tasks such as summarising a web page, answering queries about the content, and even offering alternative viewpoints. For most parts, the responses were good enough and helpful. ChatGPT Atlas prompt suggestions The reason I know the AI assistant can do these things is that it lets me know via prompt suggestions, which kept changing based on which web page I was currently on. It is a very nice inclusion for new users and those who are not familiar with AI browsers. You can also ask the assistant to take you to another website (even if you do not know the URL), and it will promptly do so after taking your permission. I tested out its shopping capabilities by asking it to look for a certain product on Amazon, and it was able to do so more or less, but it was fairly slow, and I could have done it in half the time. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement. ChatGPT Atlas showed this error message on YouTube Finally, I tested it on YouTube to see if it can answer questions based on a video that's playing. At first, it refused to answer the question and cited an error message. But after asking it to summarise the video, it was then able to answer some basic questions. During these tests, I also ran into an annoying problem. After sending about 10 messages, the sidebar assistant informs that the GPT-5 plan limit is over. While users can continue to access the AI, it is not possible to continue the conversation on that tab. ChatGPT Atlas' AI assistant hit the plan limit, forcing me to start over in a new tab So, it does not matter if you are in the middle of purchasing an item during a flash sale or booking a ticket for a concert that's selling out fast; once that message appears, you cannot get any further assistance from the chatbot, even if it's the older GPT-4o. However, this issue will likely not bother you if you have subscribed to one of the paid plans. The ChatGPT Atlas definitely shows a lot of promise with its fast speed, polished UI, and powerful AI models backing the sidebar AI assistant; however, some of the issues with the browser's basic features can leave one frustrated.

OpenAI Launches AI-Powered Atlas Browser, in Challenge to Google

The browser could challenge existing search leaders such as Google, which has already acknowledged OpenAI's ChatGPT as a competitive threat. The ChatGPT maker and world's most valuable private startup launched its highly anticipated AI-driven browser Tuesday, in a move that could challenge leading browsers like Google's (GOOGL) Chrome. The new browser, Atlas, comes with the company's flagship chatbot ChatGPT built in, eliminating the need to copy and paste resources from the web into conversations in a separate app, according to OpenAI. Atlas can also perform tasks in "agent mode," like planning events or booking appointments, OpenAI said, though that is only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users for now, CEO Sam Altman said during a livestream. The browser is available for Apple macOS users as of Tuesday, with the AI startup promising to roll out Windows, Android, and iOS soon. The move brings OpenAI's offerings more directly in competition with Google, which has already acknowledged OpenAI's ChatGPT as a threat. While other companies, including Microsoft, have browsers too, Google's is by far the most popular, capturing over 60% browser share by some estimates. In a high-profile decision last month, a judge who ruled a year ago that Google operated a monopoly in search, decided against forcing the tech giant to sell Chrome, in part because of the rapid rise of AI and the threat newer companies in the space like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity pose to its dominance. Meanwhile, Google has been hustling to augment its Chrome with AI features that will help it keep users amid widespread expectations that OpenAI would launch an AI-powered browser. Google rolled out its own Gemini chatbot in Chrome last month for Mac and Windows desktop users in the U.S. Shares of Google were down about 2% in recent trading following the announcement from OpenAI. They've added about a third of their value in 2025, thanks in part to strong demand for its cloud services to support AI.

ChatGPT maker launches web browser Atlas to rival Google Chrome

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The maker of the world's most popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot has launched a web browser, potentially accelerating the change in how people search and access information. OpenAI, the company behind the pioneering ChatGPT generative AI chatbot, has launched its new internet browser, called Atlas. It will feel familiar to users of the world's most used internet browsing portal, Google Chrome, with the use of tabs and the ability to go into an "incognito" mode so viewing activity is not recorded. "Atlas should feel very familiar," its product lead, Adam Fry, said. "So it has all of your tabs, bookmarks, autofill for passwords, all the things you're used to." ChatGPT has been incorporated into the design of Atlas, not just "bolted on", another of its creators said. "We wanted to make sure that Atlas didn't feel like your old browser, just with a chat button that was bolted on," its lead engineer Ben Goodger said. That means no need to copy and paste between tabs, with ChatGPT available on every page for any text box on the internet. Through the homepage, users can search their viewing history. Users' activity on Atlas will be embedded in the experience. "It should really feel like a natural extension of myself," said OpenAI's Will Ellsworth, the research lead for the AI agent in Atlas. Use of an AI 'agent' means artificial intelligence could research, plan or book activities. So-called natural language controls mean people can access information by using prompts personal to them, such as "re-open shoes I looked at yesterday". Who can use it and when? It's currently available for Apple Mac users across the world. Even those signed up to the free version of ChatGPT can access Atlas. Those paying for ChatGPT via OpenAI's plus and pro packages can make use of the AI agent feature. A time for when Atlas will be available on Windows, the iPhone's iOS operating system and on Android has not been given. Why does it matter? Using an AI chatbot to search the internet is different and can yield different results than traditional search via a search engine. Increased use of generative AI for search could mean some websites lose out on traffic and could change the way people use the internet. While AI has become more energy efficient, it still uses far more electricity than traditional search. The rising adoption of AI has outpaced potential energy efficiency improvements. It is a serious challenger for Google, which had faced the threat of selling its Chrome browser after a US court found its search business was an illegal monopoly. Just the start OpenAI's chief executive Sam Altman said: "There's a lot more to add. This is still early days for this project."

ChatGPT is ready to become your browser, but I'm not sure I'm ready for it | Stuff

While its AI smarts are impressive, I'm not sure I'm ready to switch all my internet browsing over to this new release OpenAI is the tech giant behind ChatGPT, and the brand's latest product is a new macOS web browser. Not just a browser, but one that comes with the AI assistant baked into every tab, corner, and conversation. Atlas officially launched on 21 October and is available worldwide for everyone. It's not the first AI browser, with The Browser Company's Dia and Perplexity's Comet already available. But the ChatGPT name gives Atlas the best chance of going mainstream. Atlas isn't just "a browser with ChatGPT" - it's a browser based on Chrome and built around ChatGPT. You don't have to copy-paste links into the chatbot anymore. Now, the chatbot lives in your tabs, understands the page you're on, and can do everything from summarising articles to planning your holiday. OpenAI describes it as your "everyday browsing flow," but it's more like having a really eager intern following you around the internet, offering to organise your tabs and clean up your messes. I've been using it since launch, I can safely say: I'm impressed, slightly horrified, and constantly clicking for features that aren't there. Atlas does work just like a regular browser, but it's built around ChatGPT rather than a traditional search engine. Open a new tab and instead of a search bar, you're greeted by ChatGPT itself, offering to help you research, write, shop, or just figure out what that tab you opened three days ago was for. It does give you different tabs, so you can view regular search engine (of your choosing) results, images, videos, and news stories. I appreciate this, as I don't always want an answer from ChatGPT. There's also a sidebar chat that follows you page to page. Atlas can handle natural language commands like "clean up my tabs" or "reopen shoes I looked at yesterday." And it actually works - when it's not being blocked by content paywalls or confused by your ad blockers. Then there's agent mode, a new preview feature available to Plus, Pro, and Business users. This gives ChatGPT the ability to take action in the browser. It's faster and feels more native than previous tools. You can ask it to comment on documents, plan a trip, or carry out a multi-step workflow - though it still stumbles on complex tasks or when you background the tab. You can choose whether you give it Keychain access or access to your already logged-in accounts, which I appreciate as someone that likes to keep my passwords locked away. What makes Atlas slightly different from the AI-powered search tools like Perplexity or Dia is just how deeply it's tied into your personal data - which I equally love and hate. ChatGPT is the AI tool that knows the most about me, and I've missed its memory feature when playing with other AI browsers. But, you have to reconcile the fact it can access your web history, open tabs, logged-in sessions, and even your keychain if you let it. The idea is to provide more relevant answers and automate tasks based on what you've done before. Sounds great, until you imagine your ChatGPT account getting breached and suddenly, someone has access to your browsing history and your saved passwords. It's the oldest tech debate: giving up privacy for convenience, but I'm not sure it's been done at such a scale before. Atlas also introduces "browser memories," which remember what you've explored and can resurface helpful pages, complete past tasks, or suggest follow-ups. These are optional and can be viewed, edited, or deleted - and they're supposedly disabled in incognito mode - but the concept is still a bit unsettling. As someone who values a bit of separation between what I'm browsing and what I'm chatting about, the merging of the two feels a little too convenient. On the plus side, it's all very Mac-native. Autofilling iMessage 2FA codes? Beautiful. Performance? Mostly smooth. But the UI still needs work. Tabs are awkwardly docked to in a top bar, there's no split screen options, and the main ChatGPT view wastes a ton of space. Also, don't expect Chrome-level polish. Atlas is missing basics like page translation, support for iCloud Keychain, customising your default model, and right-clicking to search with Google. And don't get me started on the multiple failed attempts it took just to open a Gmail message. That said, it is built on Chromium, so these fixes should (in theory) be fairly easily to implement. Then there's the looming spectre of security. AI browsers, including Atlas, have been flagged by companies like Brave for being at a great risk of prompt injection attacks. These attacks involve sneaky website code that can hijack your session, read local files, or even access sensitive accounts. OpenAI has safeguards in place, but when you give a chatbot deep hooks into your system, you're also opening new doors for things to go wrong. Plus, OpenAI will have a constant stream of all your browsing data, which may or may not be used to train future models. It's not necessarily a flaw for all, just something to keep in mind when you have the "privacy vs convenience debate" in your mind. That said, I can't deny the appeal. Atlas changes how you think about browsing. It's not just another Chrome clone, it's an experiment in what happens when your assistant stops being an app and becomes the browser itself. Even if it's not ready to replace Safari or Chrome just yet (or Arc for me), it's definitely more than a gimmick. ChatGPT Atlas is now available to download now for macOS. It's expected to launch on Windows, iOS, and Android in the near future, though no exact date has been confirmed.

ChatGPT Atlas is here, but I don't plan on ditching Chrome -- here's why

OpenAI has dominated the AI space with ChatGPT for years now, so it was no surprise that, after months of speculation, it has finally released its own AI browser. Atlas, OpenAI's AI-powered browser, is likely to be the biggest competition Chrome has ever had, and yet, I don't think I'll be moving over. This isn't because I think Atlas will be bad by any means. In fact, I'm looking forward to trying it out. I also think, from what OpenAI has stated before, that it will be a great competitor to Google and the perfect option for a lot of people. However, from what I've gathered so far, it doesn't feel like it's right for me personally. Here's why. Since it launched, I have spent a lot of time using Perplexity's Comet. This is possibly the best comparison that is out there to Google Atlas right now. They both feature AI assistants and are both built on the Chromium layout. Both are designed using leading AI models, putting the focus on the idea of an AI agent completing tasks for you. However, while I was initially really impressed by these functions when I started using Comet, I have quickly found that, once the excitement wears off, I very rarely use the assistant. It has its occasional uses. I like using it to explain an article to me, and the one feature that I have used time and time again is its ability to find and book a restaurant. But, for the most part, the times I have gone to use the AI assistant have felt slim. Yes, Atlas will most likely do it better and quicker (Sorry Perplexity), but it is less a concern of ability for me. Maybe I'm just too old school, but I just rarely find the need to let an AI agent take over. Equally, I often found myself doing half the work anyway, filling in a load of information for Comet (or in this case, Atlas) to just do the final steps for me. As I said before, I use ChatGPT a lot. While I have jumped around AI models, switching between ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, OpenAI's model has been the one that I have used the most by far. With recent updates to ChatGPT, including the Agent feature, improvements to coding, and interactions with apps like Spotify and Booking.com, ChatGPT already does a lot of the stuff that I would want from Atlas. In fact, there is a part of me that quite enjoys keeping the two parts separate. When researching a topic, I will read through the content myself and ask ChatGPT for assistance on the finer points. Security concerns AI browsers in this current version remain a fairly new invention. While we've seen AI built into the likes of Chrome and DuckDuckGo for a while, they are simply features alongside the browsers. With Comet and now Atlas, these are browsers that give AI a lot of power in the ways that you browse the internet. Being new and given this much power can produce teething problems, as identified by Brave, a competitor browsing company. "The security vulnerability we found in Perplexity's Comet browser this summer is not an isolated issue," Brave posted on X. "Indirect prompt injections are a systematic problem facing Comet and other AI-powered browsers." These 'indirect prompt injections' occur when malicious instructions are hidden in web content like webpages. When AI models analyze the content, they can obey the hidden instructions found inside. Brave found likes between these injections and browsers like Comet, with risks of a user's bank details or work logins being leaked. However, it is worth noting that these are unlikely risks, and can be worked on by companies like OpenAI and Perplexity to avoid. For now, I want to wait and see what kind of problems need to be ironed out with Atlas before committing to using it on big tasks. When OpenAI announced the launch of its browser yesterday, the stock value of Alphabet (the owner of Google) shot down. This won't seem all that surprising. Atlas is positioned first and foremost as a competitor to Chrome, and very well could be the browser that brings it down. However, I've been using Chrome for years and, for the most part, have never had any issues with it. Maybe I'll try out Atlas and instantly feel any fondness that I have for Chrome fade away. Not to mention, Chrome has just become easy to use. As Anthony Spadafora, Tom's Guide's Managing Editor for Security and Home Office content, points out, you can't easily switch between accounts on ChatGPT Atlas. I like being able to easily switch between my work and personal Chrome accounts, being able to utilise the different layouts, preferences, and histories when needed. While this feature might come later, it is a small but annoying inconvenience for me. Atlas is built on the same system after all, both using Chromium, and the look is very similar. This is the same case as Perplexity's Comet, and it often feels like you're using Chrome... just with a plug-in or some kind of theme applied. What I'm hoping for from Atlas, and what it would take for me to move over, would be for it to be more than just an overlay of Chrome. That is how Comet often feels, but ChatGPT, with all of its features, money and relationships with big companies, could go the extra mile. While it will take a lot to tear me away from Chrome, if anything was going to make me change browsers, it would be this.

ChatGPT Atlas Browser: OpenAI's AI-Powered Chrome Challenger

OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-driven browser that deeply embeds ChatGPT within internet browsing, with a mission to upset Google Chrome's decades-long reign. With capabilities such as real-time summarising, memory customising, and autonomous agent tasks, Atlas is poised to revolutionise online browsing for millions. Learn how this audacious innovation has the potential to change the course of internet interaction and upset tech giants in an age of AI-driven digital interaction. OpenAI made a daring leap into the browser wars with the introduction of ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-based web browser centred on its well-known chatbot, ChatGPT. The introduction is a major strategic manoeuvre as OpenAI becomes one of the major browsers to directly challenge dominant browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and new entrants incorporating AI features. The action is a critical turning point not just for OpenAI but for the web browsing environment as a whole. ChatGPT Atlas isn't a different browser; it is created from scratch with AI at the foundation, and it is designed to alter the user's interaction with the web fundamentally. Unlike the usual browsers that are dependent on address bars and navigating manually, Atlas has a ChatGPT sidebar that acts as an instant assistant. With users able to direct the AI to summarise information, sift through data, or help with a wide variety of tasks without having to leave the page or change applications, the seamless integration has the potential to accelerate browsing and boost productivity by eliminating tedious repetition and searches. One of the most impressive aspects of the browser is its memory feature, where it is able to hold contextual data from websites browsed. The memory is user-managed, allowing for personalised interaction and wiser help over time. For instance, users are able to obtain summaries of previously visited job listings or trends in industries directly from the memory of the browser, with privacy guarantees and the capacity to erase or administer stored information. Additionally, ChatGPT Atlas brings forth an agent mode aimed at its subscribed members, wherein the AI operates independently to carry out activities like booking flights, reservations, or even document editing, all while remaining under the control of the user. This mode is a step towards autonomous web browsing experiences, where the AI actively navigates complicated or redundant functionality on the user's behalf, releasing them from the burdens of multitasking. The launch, initially available on macOS with imminent support for Windows, iOS, and Android, underscores OpenAI's attempt to gain a foothold across all major operating systems. The timing is crucial as the browser landscape is rapidly evolving with competitors like Google's Chrome incorporating its Gemini AI technology, Microsoft's Edge adding Copilot features, and companies like Perplexity introducing conversational AI browsers. OpenAI's entry with ChatGPT Atlas heightens this competition significantly. CEO Sam Altman has described this browser launch as a "once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be." This comment highlights OpenAI's ambition to not merely create an alternative to Chrome but to redefine the very concept of online browsing in an AI-centric world. The potential impact extends beyond consumer convenience to business dynamics, capturing more web traffic and thereby increasing advertising revenues, while potentially reshaping how users consume and interact with internet content. But doubts exist whether Atlas can overthrow Chrome's dominance, which has a user base of about three billion across the globe. Industry experts opine that although early adopters and technology aficionados are likely to flock to the new browser, the mass user may wait for AI to be embedded in familiar apps before they change browsers. Innovation-adoption balance will be the key for OpenAI as it walks the tightrope of its dual role of collaborating with Microsoft while competing in the browser space. On the whole, ChatGPT Atlas is the pinnacle of the revolutionary capabilities of AI to transform everyday digital experiences. By integrating ChatGPT into the browser natively, OpenAI imagines a web where browsing is seamless, interactive, and highly personalised, bridging the gap between machine and user intelligence. With this technology becoming more mature, it may pose a challenge to the technology giants and alter the power relations of the web to usher in a new era of internet use empowered by AI. This release is an important step in the AI arms race between leading tech firms and heralds a thrilling future when browsers powered by AI become the new standard in how we browse, buy, work, and interact on the internet. The next few months will tell whether users embrace this new browsing experience and if ChatGPT Atlas has the power to unseat Google Chrome's long reign. Until now, the browser wars have only had a powerful new entrant with the strength of artificial intelligence in its core. Also Read: Nano Bananas, Genies, and AI Agents: How Google's August 2025 AI Leap Is Inspiring Tomorrow's Digital World AI Literacy: The New Superpower Redefining Work and Careers

The Chrome Killer? ChatGPT Maker Takes On Google With New Browser

The Atlas browser could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising. OpenAI introduced its own web browser, Atlas, on Tuesday, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making its popular AI chatbot a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising. It could also further cut off the lifeblood of online publishers if ChatGPT so effectively feeds people summarized information that they stop exploring the internet and clicking on traditional web links. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company also sells paid subscriptions but is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one." But analyst Paddy Harrington of market research group Forrester said it will be a big challenge "competing with a giant who has ridiculous market share." OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome and holds a distant third place in market share behind Apple's Safari. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup. Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser's URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said on a video presentation aired Tuesday. A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an "agent mode" that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person's behalf, armed with a users' browser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining its process as it searches. "It's using the internet for you," Altman said. Harrington, the Forrester analyst, says another way of thinking about that is it's "taking personality away from you." "Your profile will be personally attuned to you based on all the information sucked up about you. OK, scary," Harrington said. "But is it really you, really what you're thinking, or what that engine decides it's going to do? ... And will it add in preferred solutions based on ads?" About 60% of Americans overall -- and 74% of those under 30 -- use AI to find information at least some of the time, making online searches one of the most popular uses of AI technology, according to findings from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll taken over the summer. Google since last year has automatically provided AI-generated responses that attempt to answer a person's search query, appearing at the top of results. Reliance on AI chatbots to summarize information they collect online has raised a number of concerns, including the technology's propensity to confidently spout false information, a problem known as hallucination. The way that chatbots trained on online content spout new writings has been particularly troubling to the news industry, leading The New York Times and other outlets to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement and others, including The Associated Press, to sign licensing deals. A study of four top AI assistants including ChatGPT and Google's Gemini released Wednesday showed nearly half their responses were flawed and fell short of the standards of "high-quality" journalism. The research from the European Broadcasting Union, a group of public broadcasters in 56 countries, compiled the results of more than 3,000 responses to news-related questions to help ascertain quality responses and identify problems to fix.

OpenAI takes on Chrome with ChatGPT Atlas browser for macOS - and Windows, iOS, and Android are 'coming soon'

* ChatGPT Atlas is a new browser from OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience * It remembers your browsing context, lets you ask questions, automate tasks, and even clean up your tabs * Agent mode lets Atlas take actions on your behalf in the browser, now previewed for Plus, Pro, and Business users OpenAI has officially launched ChatGPT Atlas, a new AI-powered web browser that is launching today for macOS users around the world. Windows, iOS, and Android versions are on the way, with a 'coming soon' timeframe. ChatGPT Atlas folds ChatGPT capabilities directly into the browser itself. Instead of switching tabs to talk to a chatbot, the assistant is baked into the browsing experience. When you use Atlas, you'll see both a webpage and a ChatGPT transcript that keeps the AI companion visible at all times (unless you turn it off). It can even fix up your writing in an email through what OpenAI calls cursor chat. The AI can help summarize pages, fill out forms, make reservations, and perform other tasks automatically. The new browser represents OpenAI's biggest step yet into software for daily use and offers a memory feature to personalize the experience and make it more useful on an individual level, as it can remember your preferences. Atlas likely won't feel unfamiliar to most web browsers. But under the hood, it seems like it's running OpenAI's Operator agent, an existing AI engine capable of navigating pages, executing actions, and adapting in real time. For everyday users, the appeal is obvious. Forget juggling extensions, copying URLs into a chatbot, or manually typing the same shipping address for the fiftieth time. If Atlas works as promised, browsing could become not only more intelligent but also refreshingly low-maintenance. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

How to Use OpenAI's New Atlas AI Browser : Say Goodbye to Traditional Browsing

What if your browser didn't just help you navigate the web but actively collaborated with you? Imagine a tool that not only finds information but also summarizes it, answers your questions, and even automates your tasks, all in real time. Enter ChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI's new AI-powered browser that's turning this vision into reality. Built on the trusted Chromium framework, Atlas combines the familiar functionality of traditional browsers with innovative artificial intelligence, offering a browsing experience that feels less like using a tool and more like working with a digital partner. Whether you're a multitasking professional or a curious explorer, Atlas promises to redefine how you interact with the internet. In the overview below, Matt Maher explores how Atlas merges AI-driven search, dual-panel browsing, and real-time ChatGPT assistance to create a smarter, more efficient way to navigate the web. You'll discover how features like Cursor Chat and task automation can streamline your workflow, why its privacy-focused design sets it apart, and what limitations still remain. But is this the future of browsing or just a glimpse of what's to come? Let's unpack the possibilities and challenges of this bold new step in AI-powered technology, leaving you to decide if Atlas is the browser you've been waiting for, or the one you didn't know you needed. Atlas distinguishes itself by merging AI capabilities with conventional browsing tools, offering a range of features designed to enhance productivity and usability. These include: These features are designed to make your browsing experience more interactive and efficient, whether you're conducting research, managing tasks, or simply exploring the web. Atlas reimagines search and navigation by combining traditional methods with AI-enhanced tools. It supports popular search engines like Google while offering AI-driven results for a more dynamic and personalized experience. You can customize shortcuts for site-specific searches, allowing direct queries on platforms like Amazon, Netflix, or Wikipedia. This customization streamlines your browsing process, saving time and effort. The browser also allows you to toggle between standard and AI-enhanced search modes, giving you control over how you access and interact with information. This flexibility ensures that Atlas adapts to your preferences, whether you prioritize speed, accuracy, or a balance of both. Gain further expertise in AI browsers by checking out these recommendations. The AI capabilities in Atlas are designed to cater to a wide range of tasks, from in-depth research to everyday activities. Key functionalities include: These features are designed to adapt to your needs, making Atlas a versatile tool for both personal and professional use. OpenAI has placed a strong emphasis on privacy and security in the development of Atlas, incorporating features to protect your data and ensure a safe browsing experience. These include: These measures reflect OpenAI's commitment to providing a secure and user-centric browsing experience, addressing concerns about data privacy and AI transparency. While Atlas introduces a range of innovative features, it is not without its limitations. Currently, the browser lacks advanced functionalities such as grouped tabs and support for multiple user profiles, which are standard in many other browsers. Additionally, Atlas is currently available only for macOS users, though OpenAI has announced plans to expand compatibility to Windows and mobile platforms in the near future. As an early-stage product, Atlas is expected to undergo continuous updates and improvements. These updates aim to address existing gaps, introduce new features, and refine the overall user experience, making sure that the browser evolves to meet the needs of its growing user base. Atlas offers a familiar and user-friendly interface based on the Chromium framework, making sure compatibility with existing browser extensions. This design choice makes the transition to Atlas seamless for users of traditional browsers. The integration of AI features is intuitive, encouraging you to explore and use its capabilities to enhance productivity. Whether you're conducting research, managing tasks, or simply browsing the web, Atlas aims to provide a more intelligent and engaging experience. Its design prioritizes usability, making sure that AI tools are accessible and easy to incorporate into your daily activities. ChatGPT Atlas represents a significant advancement in the evolution of web browsers, blending traditional functionality with the fantastic potential of artificial intelligence. By integrating ChatGPT into the browsing process, Atlas redefines how you interact with the web, offering tools that enhance productivity, streamline tasks, and provide deeper insights. Although still in development, Atlas holds the promise of a more intelligent and interactive online experience. As updates continue to refine its features and expand its capabilities, Atlas is poised to become a cornerstone of AI-driven browsing, paving the way for a future where technology and usability converge seamlessly.

OpenAI launches AI browser Atlas in latest challenge to Google

OpenAI on Tuesday unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome's dominance. The launch marks OpenAI's latest move to capitalize on 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, as it expands into more aspects of users' online lives by collecting data about consumers' browser behavior. It could accelerate a broader shift toward AI-driven search, as users increasingly turn to conversational tools that synthesize information instead of relying on traditional keyword-based results from Google -- intensifying competition between OpenAI and Google. Shares of Alphabet, which owns the Chrome browser, were down 1.8% in afternoon trading. ChatGPT Atlas is the latest entrant in a crowded field of AI browsers, which includes Perplexity's Comet, Brave Browser and Opera's Neon, as companies race to weave in tools that can summarize pages, fill out forms and draft code to attract users.

OpenAI's AI-Powered Web Browser Is Here: Know What It Can Do

* ChatGPT Atlas features browser memory * It comes with an AI assistant that operates across tabs * OpenAI's AI browser features in-built agents OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Atlas, its first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered web browser on Tuesday. This now becomes the San Francisco-based AI giant's third consumer product, followed by ChatGPT and the Sora app. Available exclusively for macOS, ChatGPT Atlas is integrated with GPT-5 AI model and can perform several tasks for users. The AI assistant is available across different tabs via a side panel. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highlighted that the browser also comes with agentic capabilities.

ChatGPT Atlas wants to change how you surf the web forever

ChatGPT Atlas is OpenAI's answer to Comet and Dia, starting off a whole new kind of browsing war. What's happened? The browser wars just got a whole lot smarter. OpenAI has officially unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a fully AI-driven web browser that puts its conversational model at the core of how users explore the internet. Instead of relying on typed searches and endless tab-hopping, Atlas turns browsing into a real-time conversation where the AI can read, summarize, and even act on what's on your screen. This launch also signals ChatGPT's official leap into the AI-powered browser race, joining competitors like Perplexity's Comet and The Browser Company's Dia, both of which have been rethinking what "search" even means in the age of AI. Atlas integrates the full ChatGPT experience directly into the browser, allowing users to summarize pages, compare results, or ask questions without leaving the tab. A side-by-side layout keeps ChatGPT visible as you browse, letting you chat with the page content, not just about it. The browser has an AI-powered Agent mode that can perform actions like booking, form-filling, and data lookup autonomously, with user consent. Instead of returning links, Atlas delivers conversational answers compiled from multiple sources in real time. Atlas includes a dedicated Privacy Mode that disables memory, prevents data logging, and ensures browsing sessions aren't used to train OpenAI models It remembers what users read and search, syncing across devices for a more personalized, continuous browsing experience. Why this is important: Atlas could fundamentally reshape how we use the web. For years, browsers have been passive windows into the internet, tools that waited for users to click, type, and search. Atlas flips that dynamic entirely by embedding an intelligent assistant that can think with you while you browse. This is the most aggressive step yet in the evolution of AI-powered browsing, and it could redefine what users expect from search engines, assistants, and even productivity apps. Instead of switching between ChatGPT and a browser, both now live in one window. You ask questions, and Atlas instantly references live web content. With its agent mode, Atlas can automate tedious actions like filling forms, booking hotels, or pulling data across pages. Atlas doesn't just compete with Chrome or Edge, but it also challenges the very idea of static browsing, paving the way for AI-first web experiences. Why should I care? Sure, "AI browser" sounds like another buzzword, but Atlas is more than that. It's a rethink of how you interact with the web. It cuts through the clutter of modern browsing: no more juggling ten tabs or losing track of what you were reading. Instead, it feels like a co-pilot that actually understands what you're trying to do. It can explain a story while you read it, summarize a research paper in seconds, or even fill out forms and plan a trip -- all without leaving the page. Best of all, it remembers where you left off, making the web feel more like a conversation than a chore. Okay, so what's next? ChatGPT Atlas is rolling out first for macOS users, with a Windows release expected soon after. OpenAI says this staggered launch will help fine-tune stability and gather feedback before a wider rollout. Some features, like Agent Mode, will initially stay exclusive to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, allowing the browser to perform on-page actions while keeping user control front and center. Recommended Videos It's still early to say whether Atlas will truly redefine how people browse, but OpenAI's direction is clear that it wants the web to feel conversational, contextual, and less tied to traditional search engines. And while it's arriving a bit late to stand toe-to-toe with AI-native browsers like Comet and Dia, OpenAI holds one major advantage: a 200-million-strong ChatGPT user base that's already comfortable living inside its ecosystem. If Atlas gains traction, the next browser war won't be about speed or design. Instead, it'll be about which AI understands you best.

Online search a battleground for AI titans

Tech firms battling for supremacy in artificial intelligence are out to transform how people search the web, challenging the dominance of the Chrome browser at the heart of Google's empire. Chrome currently accounts for more than 70 percent of the browser market and Google's name has become synonymous with search. Tech firms battling for supremacy in artificial intelligence are out to transform how people search the web, challenging the dominance of the Chrome browser at the heart of Google's empire. Chatbots that started out as AI-powered assistants have gradually merged with web browsers and can independently scour the internet for detailed answers to questions. OpenAI fired the latest salvo this week with the debut of what chief executive Sam Altman called an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT. During a demonstration, members of the OpenAI team had the Atlas browser come up with a shopping list for a dinner based on a specified dish and number of guests. Atlas joins Perplexity's Comet, Microsoft's Copilot-enabled Edge and newcomers Dia and Neon in this new breed of chatbot-browser hybrid. "So many services and apps are browser-based that it makes a lot of sense to have agentic AI acting in the browser," said Techsponential lead analyst Avi Greengart. Whereas early AI assistants simply returned answers, focus has shifted to enabling them to act as "agents," independently handling computer or online tasks such as setting schedules, making reservations or ordering pizza. Now, AI makers are keen to usurp the role of the browser and streamline users' interactions with the web. "We used to download a lot of applications to our computers," said SuRo Capital principal Evan Schlossman. "You don't download that many programs anymore; things are moving to the browser." As online exploration tools evolve with AI, they have yet to stray far from how people are already navigating the internet themselves. "I think they don't want to change the core experience too much," Greengart said. "Agentic AI following you around and offering help every time you do anything probably isn't right for everyone." Google has a hold Despite its prowess when it comes to AI, Google has yet to go all-in with agentic features in Chrome on par with those touted by challengers. The internet colossus has added AI Overviews that provide summaries of online query results, and offers the option of using an "AI Mode" for searches with advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities. Chrome currently accounts for more than 70 percent of the browser market and Google's name has become synonymous with search. Futurum Group chief executive Daniel Newman does not see that shifting in the short term given how deeply ingrained Chrome use is in modern lifestyles. But Thomas Thiele, a partner at consulting firm Arthur D. Little, said OpenAI could gain an advantage by combining what it learns from people's ChatGPT exchanges with the Atlas browser. "Gathering this information together, you can have more clues about persons than any time before," Thiele said. "We'd at least have a high chance that we'd see the birth of a new Google here." More insights into people can translate into better targeting of online ads, Google's main source of revenue. Defining tomorrow By taking control of the browser, an AI company could define how people will interact with the technology in the future, Thiele reasoned. "In the long run, the browser is not necessarily where everything happens," Newman said, noting smart glasses or other wearable devices for engaging with the internet could catch on. "We're shaping behavior; winning where users currently are is going to be critical for that long-term market share that they are all fighting for." But SuRo Capital's Schlossman anticipates the AI fight to unfold directly within chatbots rather than browsers. He recalled a recent demo that featured apps moving into ChatGPT. OpenAI is "trying to control the user interface and optimize and streamline it," Schlossman said.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas to challenge Comet and Chrome (OPENAI:Private)

OpenAI (OPENAI) launched its artificial intelligence-powered web browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in a direct challenge to search giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) and fellow startups such as Perplexity. Google shares had slipped 2% by early afternoon trading on Tuesday. OpenAI has built an "Agent The launch correlated with a 2% slip in Google shares during Tuesday trading, suggesting immediate market concern over competitive threats from OpenAI. Atlas supports an AI 'Agent mode' for automated actions like purchases, evolving suggestions, integrated ChatGPT queries, and user-customizable features beyond standard search filters. Atlas competes with Gemini and Comet through unique AI automation and multitasking functions, while all browsers offer AI integration; Perplexity has shifted to a free-use model enhancing competition.

OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Atlas Browser, Creating a Workspace | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The launch marks a major shift in OpenAI's platform strategy, extending its technology from standalone chatbots into the core layer. This layer is where search, work and productivity converge. It also signals a direct challenge to incumbents such as Google Chrome and Apple Safari. OpenAI aims to redefine the browser as an intelligent workspace rather than a static portal. By placing ChatGPT inside the browser itself, the company removes the need for users to toggle between tools, allowing them to interact with web pages contextually, perform actions and retain memory across sessions. The launch follows a growing wave of AI-first browsers that treat the interface as an active participant. PYMNTS recently covered Perplexity AI's Comet browser. This browser uses similar agentic capabilities to compete with Google in the search and browsing market. Atlas brings that same model to OpenAI's ecosystem. It integrates enterprise-grade AI capabilities with everyday browsing. For businesses, Atlas could streamline workflows such as research, compliance checks and document analysis. This is achieved by merging browsing and AI execution. The rollout begins globally on MacOS, with Windows, iOS and Android versions expected later this year. OpenAI has not disclosed monetization details. However, the browser opens new strategic avenues from premium subscriptions to enterprise integrations and developer tools for in-browser automation. Persistent context and agentic task execution could transform how information is consumed. They could also change how companies measure productivity gains from AI. Meanwhile, OpenAI's growing infrastructure footprint underscores the scale of this transition. PYMNTS recently reported that the company's computing deals have surpassed the trillion-dollar mark. This reflects the resources required to power agentic systems like Atlas. It also further builds on OpenAI's earlier expansion of its AgentKit framework. PYMNTS reported that it was designed to bridge ChatGPT with real-world applications. If widely adopted, Atlas could redefine the browser itself, turning it into an intelligent workspace that understands intent, manages context, and powers the next phase of AI-driven interaction on the web.

ChatGPT Atlas just launched -- here's the 7 best prompts to try first

Unlike traditional browsers that often add-on AI as a plug-in feature, Atlas is built from the ground up with ChatGPT at its core. That means you can search the web with it, but it also acts as your assistant as you shop, plan, write, remember and take action. Whether you're researching a topic, shopping online, drafting a document or juggling open tabs, Atlas promises to bring intelligent assistance directly into your browsing flow, without the need to switch tabs or paste links from ChatGPT. The browser is now available to download for MacOS, with iOS, Windows and Android coming soon. Here are seven prompts to try once you're ready to start using it. Prompt: "Summarize the key points of this article in bullet form." With ChatGPT Altas, you can now summarize any article with a single click. his. Atlas understands the page you're on and delivers a clean summary without needing to copy-paste the link. Prompt: "Clean up my open tabs -- group by topic and close what I don't need." If you're like me and regulary have 400 tabs open at any given time, ChatGPT Atlas has your back. Now with natural language delegation, Atlas can assess your open tabs and help organize or declutter them, no manual tab dragging required. Prompt: "Reopen the shoes I was looking at yesterday and show cheaper options." Atlas gives your browser a memory and contextual recall. This is a total game changer for many reasons, namely, no more just leaving something in your cart with the chance of accidently buying it. Atlas will bring it up again when you're actually ready to buy. For those with ChatGPT Plus, Agent mode takes the shopping experience further by helping you shop smarter based on your previous activity. Prompt: "Help me rewrite this LinkedIn post to sound more confident and concise." In any open text field (email, social post, doc), highlight your text and ask Atlas to rewrite it in-line. No switching tabs, no external tools needed. Besides social posts, it can also help when you're filling out forms and documents online, which could be a real timesaver. Prompt: "Quiz me on this Wikipedia page like I'm studying for a test." Whether you're on a Wikipedia page or reading a news article, this feature is helpful for students and self-learners. With Study Mode and page awareness, Atlas can turn any web content into flashcards or quizzes in seconds. Prompt: "Create a weekly meal plan based on these bookmarked recipes." Even though Atlas has recall and you probably don't need bookmarks anymore, you can keep them for another reason. For example, if you've saved recipe sites or are grocery shopping online, Atlas can reference your bookmarks and generate a customized plan -- and even draft a shopping list. Prompt: "Automate this task every Monday: summarize my top five news sites." Atlas can support your productivity with Agent Mode and routine automation. While Agent mode is still in preview for Plus users, it might be worth the upgrade. Atlas can learn to repeat workflows and summarize fresh info on a schedule. ChatGPT Atlas is another AI browser, but in many ways it's already proving it's nothing like the others since ChatGPT is built in. By blending context awareness, natural language commands, memory and agentic actions into one seamless experience, Atlas hopes to redefine what a browser can do. While still early in its rollout, it already feels like a glimpse into the future of personal computing. If you rely on ChatGPT daily, Atlas may quickly become your new default browser. Have you tried it yet? Let me know in the comments. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

12 Everyday Tests For OpenAI's New Atlas ChatGPT AI Browser : How Did It Perform?

What if your browser could do more than just display websites? Imagine a tool that not only organizes your digital life but also critiques your writing, tracks your expenses, and remembers your preferences, all while you browse. That's the promise of OpenAI's latest innovation, the Atlas ChatGPT AI browser, which integrates artificial intelligence directly into your online experience. But bold claims often come with caveats. When tested across 12 diverse tasks, Atlas revealed a mix of impressive strengths and surprising vulnerabilities, leaving users to wonder: is this the future of productivity or just another overhyped experiment? In this exploration, Nate B Jones takes you through how the Atlas ChatGPT AI browser performed in areas like automating repetitive workflows, simplifying financial tasks, and assisting with creative projects. You'll also discover where the browser stumbled, whether it's handling complex scenarios or addressing critical security concerns. From its standout feature, a personalized memory system, to its struggles with speed and advanced customization, Atlas offers a glimpse into the evolving role of AI in everyday tools. As we delve into its capabilities and limitations, one question remains: can Atlas truly redefine the way we browse, or does it still have miles to go? Atlas distinguishes itself by incorporating an AI-powered chat assistant into a sidebar, providing real-time support for a variety of tasks. This feature is comparable to those found in competing AI-enabled browsers, such as Perplexity's Comet. The assistant is designed to assist with tasks such as: One of its most notable features is its personalized memory, which allows the browser to remember your preferences and past interactions. Over time, this capability enables Atlas to deliver tailored suggestions, improving its overall usability. Additionally, the browser is equipped to handle routine web activities, such as managing emails and automating time-tracking tasks, making it particularly appealing for users with repetitive workflows. Atlas also integrates basic automation tools that simplify everyday tasks, such as organizing digital files or performing quick calculations. These features aim to reduce the time spent on mundane activities, allowing users to focus on more critical responsibilities. Atlas demonstrates strong performance in handling straightforward, linear tasks. Its ability to automate folder creation, perform basic calculations, and organize emails is both efficient and reliable. For professionals, the writing critique tool provides quick, actionable feedback on drafts and presentations, saving valuable time and effort. The browser also excels in simplifying financial tasks, such as tracking expenses or managing budgets. Its automation tools for time management further enhance its appeal, particularly for users seeking to streamline repetitive web activities. In low-complexity scenarios, Atlas proves to be a practical and effective productivity enhancer. Another strength lies in its intuitive interface. The AI assistant is easy to access and integrates seamlessly into the browsing experience, making sure that users can quickly use its capabilities without a steep learning curve. This makes Atlas an attractive option for individuals looking to adopt AI-driven tools without extensive technical expertise. Here are more detailed guides and articles that you may find helpful on AI browsers. Despite its strengths, Atlas ChatGPT AI browser struggles with more complex or nuanced tasks. While creating a basic presentation is manageable, the browser often falls short when it comes to detailed formatting or customization. Similarly, tasks such as booking services or planning trips can lead to inefficiencies, as the AI assistant lacks the sophistication to handle intricate scenarios effectively. Another significant limitation is its speed. In some cases, performing tasks manually is faster than relying on the AI assistant, particularly when navigating familiar platforms or completing tasks that require minimal input. This can be frustrating for users who prioritize efficiency and expect the AI to save time rather than add steps to their workflow. Atlas also faces challenges in certain areas, such as online shopping. Its utility in these scenarios remains unclear, limiting its appeal to a broader audience. For users who require advanced capabilities or seamless integration with third-party platforms, Atlas may not yet meet expectations. One of the most pressing issues with Atlas is its vulnerability to prompt injection attacks. This security flaw allows malicious text on a webpage to manipulate the AI assistant, potentially compromising user data or browser functionality. While this is a known challenge for AI-enabled platforms, it highlights the urgent need for robust security measures. Until these vulnerabilities are addressed, users should exercise caution when using Atlas for sensitive tasks or when browsing unfamiliar websites. Enhanced security protocols will be essential for the browser to gain user trust and ensure safe interactions. Without significant improvements in this area, Atlas risks alienating users who prioritize data privacy and security. When compared to competitors like the Comet browser, Atlas shows promise but falls short in several critical areas. Comet offers superior integration with platforms such as LinkedIn and calendar plugins, allowing smoother workflows and better compatibility with professional tools. Additionally, Comet's optimized data input/output processes make it faster and more efficient, appealing to users who prioritize speed and seamless platform integration. Atlas, on the other hand, is still in its early stages of development. While it introduces innovative features like personalized memory, it lacks the refinement and performance needed to compete with more established alternatives. The browser's slower response times and limited functionality in complex scenarios further widen the gap between Atlas and its competitors. However, Atlas's potential for growth cannot be overlooked. With targeted updates focusing on platform integration, speed optimization, and enhanced security, the browser could evolve into a competitive player in the AI browser market. Its unique features, such as personalized memory, provide a solid foundation for future development. The OpenAI Atlas ChatGPT AI browser presents a mixed performance profile, excelling in automating repetitive tasks and providing writing assistance but struggling with complex activities, speed, and security. For now, Atlas serves as a promising yet imperfect tool for productivity-focused users who are willing to navigate its current limitations. Looking ahead, the browser's development trajectory appears optimistic. With improvements in platform integration, data optimization, and security measures, Atlas could become a competitive alternative to established AI-enabled browsers within the next six months. If you're open to exploring its capabilities and can work around its current shortcomings, Atlas offers a glimpse into the evolving role of AI in web browsing.

OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT Atlas browser with memory, agent mode, and smart tools

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a new web browser with ChatGPT integrated at its core. The company says Atlas moves closer to building a "true super-assistant" that understands user context, manages everyday tasks, and simplifies browsing. According to OpenAI, the browser builds on last year's addition of real-time search in ChatGPT -- one of its most-used features -- but expands it into the environment where users already do their work, research, and planning. ChatGPT Atlas brings ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience. Users can ask questions, summarize web content, or complete tasks without switching tabs or copying text. The AI understands what's on the screen and assists within the same window. Atlas includes built-in ChatGPT memory, allowing conversations to reference previous chats and browsing context. This enables follow-up tasks such as continuing earlier research or retrieving pages viewed before. Over time, ChatGPT becomes more relevant as it recalls key details from user activity to assist in future sessions. Users can control what ChatGPT can access and remember: Browser memories are optional and private to each ChatGPT account. Users can view, archive, or delete them anytime. When enabled, they help ChatGPT provide smarter suggestions -- such as creating to-do lists from recent browsing or continuing product research. OpenAI states that browsing content is not used to train its models by default. Users may opt in by enabling "Include web browsing" in data controls. Even if enabled, sites that opt out of GPTBot will remain excluded. If chat training is enabled in a ChatGPT account, that setting also applies to Atlas. This includes website content shared in the sidebar or referenced through browser memories. Parental controls configured in ChatGPT automatically apply to Atlas. Additional options allow parents to disable browser memories and agent mode for safer use. ChatGPT Atlas supports agent mode, allowing ChatGPT to perform actions directly in the browser. Users can ask it to plan events, manage workflows, or complete online activities. For example, ChatGPT can find a grocery store, add recipe ingredients to a cart, and place an order, or at work, review team documents, gather research, and compile summaries. When enabled, ChatGPT may request permission to open new tabs or click links as part of task execution. Users can also manually activate agent mode via a dedicated button. Agent mode launches in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business users. OpenAI notes that it may still make mistakes on complex workflows as the system continues to improve in reliability and task accuracy. OpenAI has introduced multiple safeguards to limit risks when ChatGPT takes actions within Atlas. The AI: The company warns that agents can still be exposed to malicious hidden instructions, embedded in webpages or emails, that could attempt to redirect actions or extract data. To address this, OpenAI conducted extensive red-teaming and implemented adaptive safety measures. Users are advised to review agent activities, limit sensitive access, and use logged-out mode when handling private information. OpenAI said it will continue to monitor and patch vulnerabilities as they arise. OpenAI's roadmap for Atlas includes multi-profile support, enhanced developer tools, and improved Apps SDK discoverability within the browser. Website owners can use ARIA tags to help ChatGPT agents function more accurately with their content. ChatGPT Atlas is available globally on macOS for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users. It is also available in beta for Business users and, where enabled, for Enterprise and Education accounts. Atlas can be downloaded at chatgpt.com/atlas. Users can import bookmarks, passwords, and history from their existing browsers when setting up.

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome - The Korea Times

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas emerges as a game-changer in browsing and it challenges Google. Know the key features of AI-powered browser

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser aiming to challenge Google's dominance in online information discovery. The browser integrates ChatGPT for seamless interaction, offering features like content summarization, question answering, and an "agent mode" for task completion. Atlas also introduces "memory" for personalized browsing and enhanced user control over data. OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser which is seen as a major step in the company's quest to unseat Google as the main way people find information online. The company announced it in a livestreamed demo after teasing it earlier on Tuesday with a mysterious video of browser tabs on a white screen. ChatGPT Atlas is available "globally" on macOS starting today, while access for Windows, iOS, and Android is "coming soon," the company said. CEO Sam Altman described the launch as "a rare once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about," positioning Atlas as more than just another browser. However, its "agent mode" is only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users for now, said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to a report by The Verge. "The way that we hope people will use the internet in the future... the chat experience in a web browser can be a great analog," Altman said. ALSO READ: Is Earth's second moon dangerous? The strange and mysterious case of 2025 PN7 explained The tool integrates ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience, enabling users to engage with the AI assistant seamlessly, without the need to switch tabs or copy content across applications. ChatGPT Atlas is an AI-powered browser designed to make internet browsing smarter and more intuitive. While it reportedly functions similarly to Google's AI Mode, it stands out with a completely redesigned interface, enhanced further by seamless ChatGPT integration. Beyond standard browsing, ChatGPT Atlas can summarize web content, answer questions, compare products, and handle a range of other tasks. Adam Fry, the product lead for ChatGPT Search said one of the browser's best features is memory -- making the browser "more personalized and more helpful to you," as well as an agent mode, meaning that "in Atlas, ChatGPT can now take actions for you. It can help you book reservations or flights or even just edit a document that you're working on." Users can see and manage the browser's "memories" in settings, employees said, as well as open incognito windows. ALSO READ: 'Wicked' twist on 'Dancing with the Stars': Here's when and how to watch tonight's episode. Full details The browser's agent mode clearly builds on OpenAI's previous experiments with agentic AI, including its early Operator tool, which enabled ChatGPT to perform tasks on a user's behalf, and the subsequent ChatGPT Agent, designed to handle more complex tasks such as shopping and other activities -- though it didn't always succeed in doing so. Atlas stands out with three standout features. First, a ChatGPT sidebar integrates with any webpage, letting users summarise content, analyse data, or get task assistance in real time. Its "cursor chat" feature allows users to highlight text in emails or documents and instantly request ChatGPT to edit or refine it inline. Second, Atlas offers browser memories -- optional context retention that enables ChatGPT to remember details from sites users visit. Users can, for example, ask for a summary like, "Find all the job postings I viewed last week and create an overview of industry trends." Users maintain full control, with the ability to view, archive, or delete memories at any time. OpenAI said, "Browser memories let ChatGPT remember context from the sites you visit and bring that context back when you need it." ALSO READ: Daniel Naroditsky's death mystery deepens: Russian grandmaster suspects foul play, drug abuse after American chess player found dead Third, the browser's agent mode, available in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business users, allows ChatGPT to act on users' behalf -- booking reservations, making purchases, conducting research, or editing documents autonomously -- while users retain oversight. OpenAI emphasizes that browsing content won't be used to train its models by default. Users can control which sites ChatGPT can access, clear browsing history to erase memories, and use incognito mode to temporarily log out. Agent mode also includes strict safety measures: it cannot run code, download files, access other apps, or interact with financial sites without user supervision. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

Understanding the AI Browser Wars

OpenAI is the latest to launch its browser, named Atlas, following Perplexity's launch of Comet a few months ago. These browsers integrate AI within their search bars, and at least in the case of Comet, you can use it to perform actions, for example, if you're signed into your email via the browser, it can identify the mails that need responding to within the next 72 hours. Firstly, it's largely about distribution. Why are browsers important for distribution? Because they're probably the most used application on your phone. The browser is unique in that it is the primary mode for accessing the web, and the links we click within apps often open in browsers, even if, in some social media apps, they open within an in-app frame. This allows an AI company not only to know what is being browsed but also to become the default AI application within the browser, improving its reach and distribution. Second, it's about becoming the default. When you launch Comet for the first time, it asks you to make it your default browser, add it to your taskbar, and load it on startup. This means it becomes your default AI (because of its browser-level integration), giving it an advantage over competing AI services. The Brave browser has Leo AI, and Firefox allows you to choose which AI application you want. OpenAI and Perplexity, unlike Google, which has Chrome and Gemini integration, need to build their own. Third, it's about competition, and a hedge against the collapse of the open web. The major shift happening right now is that Google is gradually killing traditional search and replacing it with AI Mode. This means that the default response when you search for something is generated by Gemini, with limited search results shown, likely to avoid antitrust issues or consumer backlash. Chrome integrations will probably not be default for OpenAI or Perplexity. By controlling the browser experience, AI companies can ensure their AI service is additive to web discovery, not a replacement for it. Fourth, it's about demonstrating and enhancing user utility. A year or so ago, some of the most popular tools among AI enthusiasts were browser plugins that used AI to help with whatever page you were on, whether that meant repurposing it, or performing an action. By integrating AI directly into their own browsers, OpenAI and Perplexity are essentially trying to replace these plugins with a more seamless experience provided by tools that are far more powerful because of their integration within the browser. Fifth, it's about data, most AI models are trained on vast public data, but fresh, high-intent, behavioral data is harder to get. Browsers offer visibility into user behavior across the open web, what users read, search, click, and when they abandon a page. This data isn't just useful for model tuning; it also creates feedback loops. They get access to data for personalisation, with browsing history, session context, tab activity, even how users respond to suggestions. With appropriate consent, this data can be turned into a much sharper model of user intent and preferences. The more users interact with AI-native browsers, the better these systems understand context and intent. Owning the browser reduces dependence on third-party data and enables tighter integration of user feedback. Sixth, the browser has long been the thinnest layer of the operating system stack. It is just enough to run everything. But AI-native browsers tilt that balance. When the browser handles intent, executes actions, manages context, and interfaces with services like email or calendars, it becomes more than an access point, it becomes the workspace. If Comet or Atlas can perform 80% of what users need via natural language, the underlying OS fades into the background. That positions the AI company not just as a search provider, but as a potential replacement for the operating system...the holy grail that Facebook couldn't crack with Facebook Home, the never-launched Facebook Phone or its attempts at violating net neutrality. Browsers are also unique in that they're more protected than other web interfaces and operate across walled gardens. Seventh, most AI companies now have mature products that meet user needs, so the fight is shifting to two fronts: expanding user bases (distribution) and building ecosystems (platformisation). Claude is pursuing this with Model Customization Platforms (MCPs) That old question comes up again: What will Google do? Chrome still dominates the market with a 72% share. P.s.: The unsaid emergent tension here is that we don't know if consumers will trust AI browsers as much as they trust traditional browsers: they know that their personal data is being taken. We've seen this play out before, in AI services themselves. Over time, as people used them more, they not only began sharing more personal data but even turned to them for therapy and relationship advice. We're probably too far down this hole now.

I just tried ChatGPT Atlas as a long-time Chrome user -- here's what I love (and hate)

The wait is finally over: OpenAI has released its own browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in a daring bid to finally dethrone Google Chrome. The speculation has lasted for the better part of a year, and now, we can all finally test whether ChatGPT Atlas is the long-awaited Chrome replacement many hoped for -- provided you own one of the best MacBooks or a computer running macOS. After watching OpenAI's latest livestream announcing its new browser, I immediately turned on my Mac mini M4 to find out. While many jump between browsers at a moment's notice (such as Jason England jumping on Opera Neon), I've been a Chrome diehard since Google's browser launched in 2008. At the time, switching from Internet Explorer on PC was a no-brainer, but Chrome hooked me so much that I even installed it on my old Mac to replace Safari. Here are my initial thoughts on ChatGPT Atlas after using it for a full day including what I love and what I hate about OpenAI's new browser. Although Google recently made Gemini directly accessible in Chrome, I honestly prefer OpenAI's approach with ChatGPT in its Atlas browser. Gemini's way of working -- which often means a floating window popping up and distracting you -- feels overpowering. With ChatGPT, the experience is more discreet. Instead of a big pop-up that can cover the content you're reading or looking at, the chat is right there as a consistent sidebar. To start chatting with ChatGPT on any page, you just click the little button in the top right corner of Atlas. For those of us who rely on our favorite AI chatbot throughout the day while working, studying, or researching, a small design difference like this can really matter. This Atlas approach means ChatGPT is there exactly when you need it without taking you out of your current flow, and frankly, I could really get used to this kind of seamless, non-disruptive integration. If you're like me, you know how quickly research spirals out of control. I can easily end up with a dozen or more tabs open across two separate, side-by-side browser windows, and that's where Chrome's tab problem begins. Your tabs get smaller and smaller until eventually, all you can see is a tab with an "X" in it. Since Chrome is my most-used app, I just sort of lived with that reality. That is, until I tried ChatGPT Atlas. While Atlas's default tab layout looks like Chrome's, the real game-changer is the option to switch to Scrolling Tabs. This single setting made a massive difference during my short time with the browser. Instead of those teeny-tiny tabs, you get full-sized tabs that never shrink. When you open more tabs than can fit, you just hover your mouse over the tab bar and scroll to reveal the rest. This works seamlessly whether you're using your mouse's scrollwheel or your laptop's trackpad, making navigation lightning-fast. Scrolling Tabs are simply awesome. Honestly, if Google were to add this feature to Chrome -- even if it's just tucked away behind an experimental flag -- I wouldn't argue in the slightest. I know plenty of people prefer not seeing a page's full URL, and I get it -- it gives your browser a cleaner look. But I'm not one of them. Often, I really need to see the full address. Whether it's when I'm writing deals and need to cut off tracking nonsense at the end of an Amazon link, or if I want to inspect a URL for a cybersecurity story I'm working on, seeing the whole thing is critical for my workflow. That's why I appreciate that Atlas puts this option front and center. Instead of hiding this setting behind multiple clicks or deep-dive flags like Chrome does, it's one of the first options you see in the browser's Settings menu under the General tab. The best part is that OpenAI uses a simple toggle switch for this, making it a breeze to enable when I need to look at a URL closely and just as fast to turn off when I don't. To Microsoft's credit, when it finally retired Internet Explorer for Microsoft Edge, the software giant repeatedly said that its new browser was Chromium-based. Maybe this was to convince more people to switch (it certainly worked) or perhaps they were just giving credit where it was due. However, Sam Altman and the crew at OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas announcement didn't exactly lead with that detail or even mention it at all. The minute they opened an incognito window on stage, though, myself and countless other tech nerds instantly noticed that familiar look. But why should you care that Atlas runs on Chromium? It actually comes with a couple of huge perks. For starters, if you have a favorite browser extension from the Chrome Web Store, you can instantly add it to Atlas without any fuss. It just works. Likewise, given how much work Google and the Chromium Project put into constantly updating the code, you can rest easy knowing you won't be dealing with nasty vulnerabilities. That enormous development effort means Atlas gets the same security patches as Chrome, and will likely get them fast. If you have a personal Google Account and also use one for work, then you know how simple it is to switch between the two in Chrome. Yes, you can click on your profile icon in the top right to do so, but you can also use one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + Shift + M) to do the same thing instantly. After installing Atlas, my personal Google Account was available after signing in, but that's where the convenience ended. I looked everywhere -- and I mean everywhere -- but there was simply no option to add a second Google Account. For my day-to-day workflow, this is a deal breaker and why I won't be ditching Chrome anytime soon. You can't properly manage your work and personal digital lives without this basic feature which is exactly what this fledgling browser needs to be a serious contender. However, OpenAI could easily add this feature in an update and I'll keep my fingers crossed it does. One of the best things about Chrome is that, like other Google services, it's completely free. Sure, you can pay for extra storage in Google Drive, but the reason products like Chrome and Google Docs are so ubiquitous is because they're free and easily accessible. Google makes its money elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser is also free. However, the pressure to upgrade felt constant while using it. For instance, after I finally, and begrudgingly, made it my default browser, the "Make Default" prompt at the bottom of the home page didn't disappear -- it instantly flipped to a jarring "Upgrade" button. That was definitely not what I was expecting. I get it: like any other AI company, OpenAI needs to make money. But these constant, subtle nags to upgrade I saw throughout Atlas didn't convince me to open my wallet. Instead, they were distracting and honestly, a real turn off that hurts the experience of this otherwise promising new browser.

New ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser Hands On User Guide

What if your web browser could not only help you navigate the internet but also anticipate your needs, summarize complex articles, and even complete tasks on your behalf? Enter ChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI's bold attempt to merge artificial intelligence with everyday browsing. Exclusively available for Mac users (for now), this AI-powered browser promises to redefine how we interact with the web. But as with any ambitious innovation, it comes with its share of growing pains, performance hiccups, privacy concerns, and a feature set that feels both new and unfinished. Is this the future of browsing, or just another experiment in AI integration? In this hands-on review, we'll explore whether ChatGPT Atlas lives up to its potential or falls short of its lofty ambitions. From AI-assisted searches to advanced tab management and even a feature called Agent Mode that can automate tasks like filling out forms, ChatGPT Atlas is packed with tools designed to streamline your online experience. But how well do these features work in practice? And can OpenAI strike the right balance between personalization and privacy? In the sections ahead, Skill Leap AI unpack the browser's standout features, its limitations, and the implications of embedding AI so deeply into our digital lives. Whether you're a tech enthusiast eager to explore innovative tools or a cautious user weighing the trade-offs, this review by Skill Leap AI will give you a clear sense of what ChatGPT Atlas has to offer, and what it still needs to get right. At this stage, ChatGPT Atlas is limited to Mac OS users, but OpenAI has confirmed plans to expand its availability to Windows and Android platforms by the end of the year. The setup process is user-friendly, allowing you to import bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history from other browsers like Chrome or Safari. During installation, you can activate the browser memory feature, which personalizes AI suggestions based on your browsing habits. While this feature enhances functionality, it has sparked debates about privacy. The browser memory stores user activity to improve AI recommendations, raising concerns about how this data is managed and protected. OpenAI provides options to disable data sharing for model improvement, but privacy-conscious users may still find this aspect unsettling. ChatGPT Atlas introduces a range of features designed to optimize your browsing experience. These include: These features are designed to enhance productivity and convenience, but their real-world effectiveness depends on consistent performance and user adaptability. Explore further guides and articles from our vast library that you may find relevant to your interests in AI browsers. For users seeking more advanced functionality, ChatGPT Atlas offers Agent Mode. This feature allows the AI to perform specific tasks on your behalf, such as adding items to a shopping cart, filling out forms, or navigating websites. While the concept is ambitious, its current implementation is limited, with practical applications still under development. Agent Mode requires users to log in, which may deter individuals concerned about data security. Additionally, the feature's effectiveness is inconsistent, as it struggles with complex tasks and occasionally misinterprets user intent. Despite these limitations, Agent Mode represents a glimpse into the potential of AI to automate routine online activities, making it a feature to watch as OpenAI continues to refine its capabilities. While ChatGPT Atlas introduces several innovative features, its performance has been a point of contention. Users have reported slower response times compared to other AI-powered browsers, which can hinder productivity. Features like tab management and contextual interactions occasionally fail to execute as intended, highlighting the need for further optimization. For instance, the tab context recognition tool, designed to provide AI-driven insights based on your browsing activity, often delivers inconsistent results. These performance issues, combined with the browser's relatively high resource consumption, may limit its appeal to users seeking a seamless and efficient browsing experience. The user interface of ChatGPT Atlas is designed to feel familiar to those already acquainted with OpenAI's tools. It incorporates structured content outputs, such as tables and summaries, which are particularly valuable for professionals, researchers, and students. The ability to compare content across multiple tabs further enhances its utility for multitasking users. However, some features, such as contextual tab recognition and sidebar tools, require further refinement to meet user expectations fully. While the interface is intuitive, its evolving nature suggests that OpenAI is actively working to address user feedback and improve the overall experience. Privacy remains a critical concern for users of ChatGPT Atlas. The browser memory feature, while enhancing AI suggestions, raises questions about how user data is stored, processed, and protected. OpenAI has implemented measures to give users control over their data, such as the option to disable data sharing for model improvement. Despite these safeguards, some users remain wary of the implications of AI-driven data collection. The balance between personalization and privacy is a delicate one, and OpenAI's ability to address these concerns will play a significant role in determining the browser's long-term success. ChatGPT Atlas offers a forward-looking vision of AI-powered web browsing, with features like AI integration, sidebar tools, and advanced tab management providing tangible benefits for productivity and convenience. However, its current limitations, such as inconsistent performance, privacy concerns, and the underdeveloped Agent Mode, highlight areas that require significant improvement. As OpenAI continues to refine the browser, ChatGPT Atlas has the potential to become a valuable tool for users seeking an AI-enhanced browsing experience. For now, it serves as an intriguing glimpse into the future of web browsing, offering innovative features that, while promising, need further development to fully realize their potential.

ChatGPT Atlas Browser: Can It Beat Google Chrome with AI Power?

ChatGPT Atlas Browser Launched: Enjoy AI-Powered Browsing with Agent Mode, Smart Suggestions, and Search-Free Navigation OpenAI has released a new browser called ChatGPT Atlas. It is built to compete with Google Chrome, which has been the most popular browser for years. Atlas focuses on AI to make browsing simpler. Chrome has added some AI features, but it still works mostly like a normal browser. ChatGPT Atlas integrates ChatGPT directly into the browser. Users are able to receive assistance in writing emails, summarizing web pages, checking products, or rewriting text without the need for opening additional tabs. Chrome offers as well; however, they are not completely absorbed into the browser and are of lesser power. Atlas has a feature called Agent Mode. It can do tasks for the user, like finding a recipe online and adding ingredients to a shopping cart. This feature is available for Pro, Plus, and Enterprise users. Chrome does not have a feature like this and depends on extensions for automation. Atlas has removed the normal search bar, allowing users to type questions directly and letting ChatGPT answer or perform tasks accordingly. Chrome, on the contrary, still relies on Google Search and normal navigation, which can be slower compared to AI-based help. Atlas remembers user preferences and browsing history. This allows it to give answers that fit each user better. Chrome has AI suggestions, but they do not learn from your past use as Atlas does. Atlas currently works only on Mac. However, versions for Windows, iOS, and Android soon. Chrome, on the other hand, works on almost every device, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

OpenAI launches Atlas web browser to compete with Google Chrome

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS phone operating system and Google's Android phone system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one." OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But US District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the US Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup. Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser's URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said on a video presentation aired Tuesday. A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an "agent mode" that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person's behalf, armed with what it has learned from users' browser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining its process as it searches.

OpenAI Rolls Out AI-Powered Web Browser, ChatGPT Atlas

Artificial intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI has launched its own web browser that integrates all the functions of its popular ChatGPT AI model within it, the company announced in a blog post on Tuesday. The web browser, named Atlas, is currently available for all of OpenAI's Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users on macOS. The AI company plans to roll out the browser for Windows, iOS, and Android users soon. The Sam Altman-led company claims that Atlas enables ChatGPT users to bring the generative AI model 'anywhere across the web' with them. "[ChatGPT can help] you in the window right where you are, understanding what you're trying to do, and completing tasks for you, all without copying and pasting or leaving the page." OpenAI's blog post reads The AI company further remarks that a user's conversations with ChatGPT can draw upon "past chats and details to help you get new things done", as the Atlas web browser contains the AI model's built-in memory. The highlights of OpenAI's web browser are the browser memories and AI agent mode features. For context, the browser memories feature lets ChatGPT remember context from the websites a person visits, bringing context back when a particular user needs it. However, a user can delete specific pages, clear their entire browsing history, or even open an incognito window to log out of ChatGPT temporarily. Elsewhere, OpenAI offers ChatGPT's services within Atlas in an agent mode preview to Plus, Pro, and Business users. This mode essentially means that the AI model can research and analyse, automate tasks, plan events, or book appointments while a user browses the web. Furthermore, the AI company reveals that the end-user is always in the driving seat when it comes to the agent mode. "ChatGPT is trained to ask before taking many important actions, and you can pause, interrupt, or take over the browser at any time," OpenAI divulges in its Atlas release notes. However at the same time, the AI company concedes that the agent mode feature might commit mistakes with respect to complex workflows. And pertinently, OpenAI allows parents to disable both browser memories and the agent mode on the Atlas browser, in addition to importing all parental controls from the ChatGPT AI model to the web browser OpenAI has launched its AI-powered web browser at a time when the consumer market is flooding with such products: case in point, Perplexity's Comet and Opera's Neon, etc. Particularly in OpenAI's case, European users' spending on ChatGPT has stalled since May this year, as per a recently released Deutsche Bank data analysis report. And the launch of the Atlas browser is apparently seen as the AI company's response to attract more users to its AI chatbot. Elsewhere, browsing giant Google integrated its Gemini AI model within the Chrome browser in May 2024, and the tech company's AI mode within Google Search rolled out in India in July 2025. Interestingly, Perplexity made an all-cash offer worth $34.5 billion for Google's Chrome web browser in August 2025. This offer came in the backdrop of Google's antitrust case in the US against the country's Department of Justice (DOJ). For context, the case stemmed from Google's anti-competitive practices to push its own set of apps and search engine towards end-users. However, in a win for the tech company, US federal judge Amit Mehta ruled in September 2025 that Google won't have to sell its Chrome browser to end the legal proceedings. Mehta said that Google can continue paying partners to promote its search engine, noting that heavy investment in generative AI by Big Tech and startups alike now threatens traditional search, consequently making such payments more acceptable. And despite rising competition from AI-powered browsers recently, Google Chrome has held its dominance - with 71.9% market share in the global browser market in September 2025 - as per StatCounter.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser in open challenge to Google - key points to know

ChatGPT Atlas: OpenAI has officially entered the web browser arena with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered browser, which was announced during a livestream on Tuesday, Atlas marks OpenAI's boldest move yet in its escalating competition with Google and its Gemini-embedded Chrome browser. The new browser, which is available globally on macOS starting today, will soon expand to Windows, iOS, and Android, according to the company. However, its most advanced feature, "agent mode", is currently limited to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed during the livestream, as per The Verge report. Altman said that, "The way that we hope people will use the internet in the future... the chat experience in a web browser can be a great analog," as quoted in the report. ALSO READ: US stock market top gainers & losers today: Apple, Supermicro, Expand Energy, EQT rise - while Oracle, AppLovin, Seagate, Western Digital fall Atlas blends traditional browsing with the conversational interface of ChatGPT. When users click on a link, the browser opens a split-screen view, one side displaying the webpage, and the other showing a live ChatGPT conversation, as per the report. The goal, according to OpenAI, is to create an "companion" that can summarize, assist, or even act on your behalf while you surf, as per The Verge report. Users can also disable the split-screen for a more conventional layout. During the demo, OpenAI staff showcased Atlas's webpage summarization capabilities and a clever "cursor chat" feature, letting users highlight text (like an email draft) and have ChatGPT instantly rewrite or refine it in-line, as reported by The Verge. ALSO READ: US stock market rallies today: Dow jumps over 500 points, S&P 500 up 1.07%, Nasdaq gains 1.37% as Apple stock surges & investors await Netflix, Tesla, Intel, Coca-Cola earnings this week OpenAI's browser debut comes amid intensifying competition in the AI search and browsing space. The company had already teased this direction with SearchGPT, its AI-driven search engine prototype launched in mid-2024. Since then, rivals have moved fast. Perplexity AI rolled out its own Comet browser this summer, a so-called "answer engine" that summarizes information, scans open tabs, and even manages tasks like shopping or email cleanup. Meanwhile, Google has announced plans to embed its Gemini AI assistant deeper into Chrome, promising it will soon handle everyday chores such as making reservations or scheduling appointments. With its polished interface and tight ChatGPT integration, ChatGPT Atlas positions OpenAI as a direct challenger to Google's dominance in the browser and search space, and signals that the battle for the future of how we use the web has officially begun. What is ChatGPT Atlas? ChatGPT Atlas is OpenAI's new AI-powered web browser that blends browsing and chat assistance, as per The Verge report. Is ChatGPT Atlas available for everyone? Yes, it's available globally on macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions coming soon, as per The Verge report.

ChatGPT Atlas Browser Launch Sparks Cybersecurity and Privacy Concerns

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas Raises Alarms Over Security, Privacy, and AI Browser Vulnerabilities Cybersecurity specialists are issuing warnings regarding the possible privacy and security threats in the newly released ChatGPT Atlas browser of OpenAI. Even though the AI-driven browser is said to assist users in summarizing pages, organizing events, and doing other tasks, its profound access to the web content and users' logged-in sessions has worried people about the data being leaked and prompting injection attacks.

ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser : Changing How You Surf the Web Forever

What if your browser didn't just help you navigate the web but actively worked alongside you, remembering your habits, automating tedious tasks, and even generating creative content on demand? With the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI has entered the fiercely competitive browser market, aiming to redefine how we interact with the internet. This bold move pits OpenAI against tech giants like Google, signaling its ambition to move beyond AI research and into the realm of consumer technology. But can a browser built around artificial intelligence truly deliver on its promise of a smarter, more personalized online experience? Or will it stumble under the weight of privacy concerns and performance challenges? In this overview, Prompt Engineering explores how Atlas seeks to stand out in a crowded field by embedding AI into its core functionality. From its agent mode, which automates repetitive tasks, to its memory feature that personalizes browsing sessions, Atlas offers a glimpse into the future of intelligent web tools. Yet, early reviews reveal a product that is as intriguing as it is imperfect, with inconsistent performance and unanswered questions about data security. As we unpack the browser's features, strengths, and limitations, you'll discover what this innovation means for the future of browsing, and whether OpenAI's gamble could reshape the way we interact with technology. Atlas aims to redefine how users interact with browsers by embedding artificial intelligence into its core functionality. By using the capabilities of ChatGPT, the browser offers tools designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows. For example, its agent mode can automate tasks such as downloading files, analyzing datasets, or even managing repetitive online activities, significantly reducing the need for manual effort. Additionally, the browser's ability to remember past browsing sessions provides a more personalized and seamless user experience. This launch represents a pivotal shift for OpenAI, transitioning from its traditional focus on AI research to creating practical, consumer-oriented products. By entering the browser market, OpenAI is not only challenging established players but also signaling its intent to shape the future of consumer technology through AI integration. Atlas offers a suite of features tailored to users seeking advanced tools for productivity, creativity, and convenience. These functionalities showcase OpenAI's commitment to embedding artificial intelligence into everyday tools while addressing the evolving needs of modern users. These features highlight Atlas's innovative approach to browsing. However, they also underscore the challenges OpenAI faces in delivering consistent performance and addressing user concerns, particularly around privacy and reliability. Discover other guides from our vast content that could be of interest on OpenAI. Atlas introduces innovative capabilities, but its early performance has been uneven. The agent mode, while promising, struggles with executing complex tasks reliably, which may limit its appeal to users seeking robust automation solutions. Additionally, the browser's speed currently lags behind competitors like Google Chrome, potentially deterring users accustomed to faster and more responsive browsing experiences. Privacy concerns present another significant challenge. The memory feature, designed to enhance personalization, could inadvertently expose sensitive information if not properly secured. OpenAI will need to implement robust security measures and transparent data-handling policies to build user trust and encourage widespread adoption. Despite these challenges, Atlas's integration of AI-driven tools represents a step forward in redefining what a browser can offer. As OpenAI refines its features and addresses performance issues, the browser has the potential to become a strong contender in the market. OpenAI's entry into the browser market reflects a broader trend of integrating artificial intelligence into consumer products. By using its expertise in AI, OpenAI aims to challenge the dominance of established browsers like Google Chrome and carve out a niche in the increasingly competitive browser space. Atlas's AI-driven features, particularly agent mode and memory of browsing history, set it apart from traditional browsers, offering users a more dynamic and personalized experience. However, the competition is fierce. Emerging players such as Comet, developed by Plexity AI, and DIA Browser are also introducing AI-powered functionalities, creating a crowded field of contenders. While Chrome remains the most mature and widely used browser, its lack of built-in AI integration could provide an opportunity for challengers like Atlas to gain traction among users seeking more advanced tools. OpenAI's ability to differentiate Atlas from its competitors will depend on its capacity to address performance issues, enhance user trust, and deliver consistent value through its AI-driven features. The browser market is evolving rapidly, and Atlas's success will hinge on its ability to adapt to user needs and industry trends. The launch of Atlas has generated a mix of excitement and skepticism among users and industry analysts. Early adopters have praised its innovative approach to browsing, particularly its AI-driven features, but have also highlighted its limitations in performance and usability. The inconsistent functionality of agent mode and concerns over privacy have been recurring points of criticism. Industry analysts recognize Atlas's potential to disrupt the browser market, particularly as OpenAI refines its features based on user feedback. The browser's debut also underscores the growing importance of AI-driven product development across industries. As companies increasingly integrate AI into their offerings, the line between traditional software and intelligent systems continues to blur, signaling a shift in how technology is designed and used. Atlas's reception reflects both the opportunities and challenges of introducing AI-powered tools into established markets. OpenAI's ability to address user concerns and deliver on its promises will determine whether Atlas can achieve long-term success in the competitive browser landscape.

OpenAI launching web browser to compete with Google Chrome | BreakingNews

OpenAI has said it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable start-up, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives said the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But US District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the US Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about three billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI start-up, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited 34.5 billion dollar offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Judge Mehta decided against a Google break-up.

ChatGPT Atlas is here -- how to download for macOS now

If you're tired of opening ChatGPT in Google Chrome or Safari, you're in luck as OpenAI has just released its new Atlas browser and the best part, if you have a Mac, you can download and start testing it out right now. While we've seen plenty of browser extensions for the best AI chatbots, this isn't a mere plugin. Instead, ChatGPT Atlas is a full-blown browser you can use just like Chrome or Safari for online shopping, research, surfing the web and more. The big thing that sets Atlas apart though is that you have full access to ChatGPT from within anywhere in your browser. Likewise, OpenAI's chatbot can see everything you do, from the page you're on to your open tabs and even your web history if you have that last feature enabled. Once installed, you can use natural language to talk to Atlas just like you would with ChatGPT to do things like clean up your tabs or reopen that recipe you were looking at yesterday. For those with a paid subscription on ChatGPT's Plus, Pro, and Business plans, there's also a new feature currently in preview called agent mode that takes things a step further. With it, you can let ChatGPT take full control of Atlas so that it can complete more complex tasks for you like summarizing webpages, booking travel, planning projects and more. Regardless of whether you're a free or paid ChatGPT user (or even if you're not) and have a Mac, you can try out Atlas right now. Here's how to download and set up OpenAI's new browser on your computer.

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome - The Economic Times

OpenAI is launching its own web browser, called Atlas, stepping into direct competition with Google. By becoming a new way for people to search online, OpenAI hopes to attract more users and earn from ads. Despite having over 800 million ChatGPT users, most use it for free, so profits remain low.OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world's most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue that comes from digital advertising. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit. OpenAI's browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google's industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google's ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly. But US District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape. OpenAI's browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google's Gemini technology. Chrome's immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat. But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome. Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.

Online search a battleground for AI titans - VnExpress International

Tech firms battling for supremacy in artificial intelligence are out to transform how people search the web, challenging the dominance of the Chrome browser at the heart of Google's empire. Chatbots that started out as AI-powered assistants have gradually merged with web browsers and can independently scour the internet for detailed answers to questions. OpenAI fired the latest salvo this week with the debut of what chief executive Sam Altman called an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT. During a demonstration, members of the OpenAI team had the Atlas browser come up with a shopping list for a dinner based on a specified dish and number of guests. Atlas joins Perplexity's Comet, Microsoft's Copilot-enabled Edge and newcomers Dia and Neon in this new breed of chatbot-browser hybrid. "So many services and apps are browser-based that it makes a lot of sense to have agentic AI acting in the browser," said Techsponential lead analyst Avi Greengart. Whereas early AI assistants simply returned answers, focus has shifted to enabling them to act as "agents," independently handling computer or online tasks such as setting schedules, making reservations or ordering pizza. Now, AI makers are keen to usurp the role of the browser and streamline users' interactions with the web. "We used to download a lot of applications to our computers," said SuRo Capital principal Evan Schlossman. "You don't download that many programs anymore; things are moving to the browser." As online exploration tools evolve with AI, they have yet to stray far from how people are already navigating the internet themselves. "I think they don't want to change the core experience too much," Greengart said. "Agentic AI following you around and offering help every time you do anything probably isn't right for everyone." Google has a hold Despite its prowess when it comes to AI, Google has yet to go all-in with agentic features in Chrome on par with those touted by challengers. The internet colossus has added AI Overviews that provide summaries of online query results, and offers the option of using an "AI Mode" for searches with advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities. Chrome currently accounts for more than 70% of the browser market and Google's name has become synonymous with search. Futurum Group chief executive Daniel Newman does not see that shifting in the short term given how deeply ingrained Chrome use is in modern lifestyles. But Thomas Thiele, a partner at consulting firm Arthur D. Little, said OpenAI could gain an advantage by combining what it learns from people's ChatGPT exchanges with the Atlas browser. "Gathering this information together, you can have more clues about persons than any time before," Thiele said. "We'd at least have a high chance that we'd see the birth of a new Google here." More insights into people can translate into better targeting of online ads, Google's main source of revenue. Defining tomorrow By taking control of the browser, an AI company could define how people will interact with the technology in the future, Thiele reasoned. "In the long run, the browser is not necessarily where everything happens," Newman said, noting smart glasses or other wearable devices for engaging with the internet could catch on. "We're shaping behavior; winning where users currently are is going to be critical for that long-term market share that they are all fighting for." But SuRo Capital's Schlossman anticipates the AI fight to unfold directly within chatbots rather than browsers. He recalled a recent demo that featured apps moving into ChatGPT. OpenAI is "trying to control the user interface and optimize and streamline it," Schlossman said.

OpenAI Launches New AI-Powered Browser to Compete with Google Search

This launch marks a significant step in AI-driven search technology and competition with Google. OpenAI has officially launched its new AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, that will change the way people search and interact with the internet. By giving cutting-edge functionalities of ChatGPT along with real-time browsing, the browser provides a more conversational and user-friendly search experience. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, stated that this launch is a significant milestone in making AI more accessible and practical for everyday users. The search landscape is about to change gradually. The new browser will compete directly with Google Search by providing answers more naturally and contextually. Rather than just giving a list of links, it understands complex inquiries and produces short but concise answers. This new technology is likely to disrupt the existing search engine market by offering AI-based results rather than relying on keyword-driven ones.

How to Use New ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser : Say Goodbye to Boring Browsing

What if your browser didn't just help you search, but actively worked alongside you, summarizing articles, drafting emails, or even automating repetitive tasks? Enter ChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI's ambitious leap into the browser market. Built on Google's Chromium platform, this AI-powered browser promises to redefine how we interact with the web. But in a space dominated by giants like Google Chrome and emerging competitors like Perplexity's Comet, the stakes couldn't be higher. With its bold vision of embedding artificial intelligence directly into the browsing experience, Atlas doesn't just aim to compete, it's here to challenge the very idea of what a browser should be. The question is: will it succeed in reshaping the digital landscape, or is it a futuristic idea ahead of its time? In this overview of ChatGPT Atlas by Sam Witteveen, you'll discover how it stands apart in a crowded market, from its contextual AI tools to its emphasis on privacy-first features. We'll unpack its innovative capabilities, like Agent Mode and Browser Memory, which promise to make your online experience more intuitive and efficient. But it's not all smooth sailing, Atlas faces hurdles like limited platform availability and compatibility issues that could slow its adoption. Whether you're a tech enthusiast curious about the future of AI or a casual user wondering if it's worth switching from your trusty browser, this perspective will shed light on the opportunities and challenges shaping Atlas's journey. After all, the battle for your browser isn't just about technology, it's about how we navigate and shape the web itself. ChatGPT Atlas represents OpenAI's vision to redefine the browsing experience by integrating AI into the core functionality of a web browser. Unlike traditional browsers, Atlas emphasizes productivity and contextual assistance, aiming to anticipate your needs and streamline tasks. This approach aligns with the broader industry shift toward AI-enhanced browsing, often referred to as the "answer engine" era. The browser's primary goal is to provide a seamless, intelligent experience that goes beyond simply retrieving information. By embedding AI directly into the browsing process, OpenAI aims to create a tool that not only searches but also interprets, summarizes, and assists with tasks in real time. This focus on proactive assistance and contextual understanding sets Atlas apart from conventional browsers. ChatGPT Atlas introduces a range of features designed to enhance your browsing experience and improve efficiency. These include: These features are designed to save time, reduce effort, and make browsing more interactive. By integrating AI into everyday tasks, Atlas aims to redefine how you engage with the web. Dive deeper into ChatGPT Atlas with other articles and guides we have written below. Privacy is a central focus for ChatGPT Atlas. OpenAI has implemented measures to give you control over how your data is accessed and used. You can choose to run agent-driven tasks either while logged in or anonymously, making sure that your browsing habits remain private and secure. Additionally, the Agent Mode operates locally on your device, reducing the need to send data to external servers. This approach enhances security and sets Atlas apart from competitors, particularly in an era where data privacy is a growing concern. By prioritizing user control and minimizing data exposure, OpenAI addresses one of the most significant challenges facing AI-powered tools today. As with any emerging technology, ChatGPT Atlas faces several challenges. Early users have reported mixed results, with some features performing inconsistently. For example, the AI's ability to provide contextual insights can vary depending on the complexity of the task or the content of the website being accessed. Platform availability is another limitation. Currently, Atlas is only available for MacOS users, with plans to expand to Windows and mobile platforms in the future. This restricted access may slow adoption, particularly among users who rely on other operating systems. Compatibility issues also present a challenge. Certain websites actively block OpenAI services, which can limit the browser's effectiveness in specific scenarios. These hurdles highlight the need for ongoing updates and refinements to ensure a smooth and reliable user experience. The launch of ChatGPT Atlas marks a significant shift in the tech industry toward AI-integrated browsing. This trend challenges the dominance of traditional search engines and browsers, which have long been the primary tools for navigating the web. Competitors like Google are likely to respond by incorporating similar AI features into their platforms, intensifying the competition. For Atlas to succeed, it must not only innovate but also address user concerns around performance, compatibility, and privacy. Its ability to consistently deliver a high-quality experience will be critical in determining its position in the market. Despite its potential, ChatGPT Atlas faces significant barriers to adoption. Many users may hesitate to switch from established browsers like Chrome, especially if Atlas does not offer a clear advantage in terms of performance or unique features. Early-stage limitations, such as inconsistent functionality and restricted platform availability, could further deter potential users. To overcome these challenges, OpenAI will need to focus on regular updates, feature enhancements, and broader compatibility. By addressing these concerns, Atlas could position itself as a compelling alternative to traditional browsers. Its success will depend on its ability to adapt to user needs and compete effectively in an increasingly crowded market. ChatGPT Atlas represents a bold step forward in the evolution of web browsing. By integrating AI into the core of the browsing experience, it offers a glimpse into the future of how we interact with the web. While challenges remain, its innovative features and focus on privacy provide a strong foundation for growth and adoption. Whether it can emerge as a leader in this space will depend on its ability to deliver consistent performance, address user concerns, and stay ahead of the competition.

ChatGPT Atlas browser is live -- here's the top 7 features that make it different

AI browsers are heating up. With Perplexity's Comet and other players like Arc baking assistants directly into the browsing flow -- and Google integrating Gemini into Chrome -- browsing the web is beginning to look a lot different than it did even a few months ago. In fact, it seems to be becoming the next major AI battleground. Now, OpenAI has entered the fray with its own contender: ChatGPT Atlas. Atlas is a brand-new browser built entirely around ChatGPT, and it's available starting today for macOS users (with Windows and mobile coming soon). But this isn't just ChatGPT slapped on top of Chrome. It's a full rethink of how we browse, research, plan, shop and get things done -- with an AI assistant embedded into every tab, task and decision. You can opt in or out at any time, depending on your preferences. From summarizing pages and resurfacing what you saw yesterday, to cleaning up tabs or drafting emails in-line, Atlas transforms the web into your workspace, with ChatGPT assisting the entire time. Here are the 7 standout features that make ChatGPT Atlas a game-changer. Each new tab in Atlas can become a conversation with ChatGPT. You can type a question, paste a link or launch into a full-on research task. Now, without tabbing back to ChatGPT, you will have a dedicated search, image, video and news tabs with ChatGPT integrated to help you dive deeper. Atlas understands your current webpage, open tabs and even your login status (with your permission), so it actually has context, similar to what users experience within ChatGPT -- only better, as OpenAI claims. During the live stream today, the team added that with Atlas, users will get more relevant and personal responses when researching, shopping or writing. If you like using ChatGPT for writing, you'll probably find the integration helpful when replying to emails, editing Google Docs, or even filling out your next job application. With in-line writing help, ChatGPT Atlas can help you rewrite or refine wherever you go on the web, right within the field, so no copy and pasting text again. When enabled, browser memory lets Atlas remember pages you've visited, tasks you've started or ideas you've explored, just like an actual assistant. So, you don't have to keep multiple tabs open anymore. With ChatGPT Atlas, you can resurface them whenever relevant. You can edit, view or delete memories anytime. You don't need to worry about bookmarks and tab managers anymore. Just say things like "reopen the travel site from yesterday" or "close my recipe tabs," and Atlas will take action. The natural language control promises to keep you more productive with fewer workflow interruptions. Now in preview for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users, Agent Mode in Atlas goes beyond chat. It can research, plan, book things, summarize docs or even handle workflows across tabs -- all autonomously. Atlas is just like ChatGPT in that it offers full incognito mode, memory controls, parental settings and transparency around what's remembered. Your browsing content isn't used to train AI models, and you can always turn memory off so you stay in control. It's safe to say we've never seen a browser like this before. While AI browsers are becoming mainstream, Atlas stands out as a reimagining of how we interact with the internet via chatbot. By deeply embedding ChatGPT into every part of the browsing experience, Atlas turns the web into a collaborative workspace with an AI assistant that understands your goals, remembers what matters to you and helps you take action. To download it on your Mac now, visit chatgpt.com/atlas. Windows, iOS and Android support are coming soon. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

New OpenAI ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser Launches : A Smart Browser That Does It All

What if your browser could do more than just load web pages? Imagine a digital assistant that not only helps you navigate the internet but also drafts emails, schedules appointments, and even edits documents, all without leaving your current tab. Enter ChatGPT Atlas, a new fusion of traditional web browsing and conversational AI. Built on OpenAI's ChatGPT, this innovative browser reimagines how we interact with the digital world, offering a seamless blend of familiarity and innovative technology. Whether you're a multitasking professional or a curious explorer, ChatGPT Atlas promises to transform your online experience into something smarter, faster, and more intuitive. In this overview, you'll discover how ChatGPT Atlas combines AI-enhanced tools with user-friendly design to simplify your workflows and amplify productivity. From its memory-powered personalization to its ability to automate repetitive tasks, this browser doesn't just respond to your needs, it anticipates them. You'll also learn how it balances innovation with privacy, giving you full control over your data and interactions. Could this be the next evolution in web browsing? By the end, you might just see the internet, and your role within it, in an entirely new light. ChatGPT Atlas introduces a range of features designed to redefine how you browse the web. These tools are tailored to improve efficiency, reduce repetitive tasks, and provide a more intuitive user experience. Here are the standout features: These features work in harmony to save time, reduce effort, and allow you to focus on what truly matters. While ChatGPT Atlas introduces new AI-driven tools, it retains the core elements of a traditional browser to ensure a smooth transition for users. Familiar features like tabs, bookmarks, and autofill remain intact, providing a sense of continuity for those accustomed to conventional browsers. At the same time, Atlas enhances multitasking with features like split-view browsing, allowing you to interact with ChatGPT and web pages simultaneously. The browser also offers contextual suggestions and personalized recommendations. For instance, if you are researching a topic, ChatGPT can summarize key points, suggest related articles, or even provide deeper insights, helping you work more efficiently and effectively. Explore further guides and articles from our vast library that you may find relevant to your interests in AI browsers. ChatGPT Atlas redefines the search experience by incorporating AI-assisted capabilities that go beyond traditional search engines. It understands the context of your queries and supports multi-turn interactions, allowing you to refine searches and receive more accurate, tailored results. Another notable feature is Cursor Chat, which enables you to edit text directly within web forms or documents without leaving the page. This functionality, combined with task delegation through Agent Mode, simplifies complex workflows and boosts productivity. For example, you can instruct ChatGPT to navigate websites, complete forms, or perform specific actions on logged-in sites, all while maintaining full control over its access and permissions. Privacy is a fundamental priority for ChatGPT Atlas. The browser is designed with robust safeguards to ensure users remain in control of their data. Key privacy features include: These privacy measures strike a balance between powerful functionality and respect for user data, giving users confidence in how their information is managed. ChatGPT Atlas is currently available for macOS users worldwide, with Agent Mode accessible to Plus and Pro subscribers. Plans are in motion to expand compatibility to Windows and mobile platforms, making its innovative features accessible to a broader audience. Looking ahead, the development team is focused on deepening the browser's integration of custom instructions and AI-driven task management. The ultimate vision is to create a proactive browsing assistant that not only responds to user needs but anticipates them, delivering an even more intuitive and personalized experience. ChatGPT Atlas represents a significant advancement in web browsing technology. By combining traditional browser functionality with the power of conversational AI, it offers a unique, user-centric approach to navigating the internet. Whether you aim to enhance productivity, streamline tasks, or explore the web more intuitively, ChatGPT Atlas provides the tools to make it happen. With its focus on innovation, privacy, and user control, ChatGPT Atlas is set to redefine how users interact with the digital world.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas Browser set to get these new features soon

New interface for the AskChatGPT sidebar and support for restoring pinned tabs. OpenAI's newly introduced ChatGPT Atlas browser, the company's latest move to take on search giant Google, is already getting a slew of updates just days after its debut. The newly AI-powered browser, which integrates ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience, will soon get new features for better personalisation, productivity, and everyday usability. Adam Fry, who heads OpenAI's Atlas project, stated that the team is "heads down making it better," revealing a list of upcoming upgrades. Among the most notable are user profiles, tab grouping, and an opt-in ad blocker, all of which are expected to roll out gradually over the next few weeks. Fry added that the update list also includes smaller but useful changes like an overflow bookmarks menu and additional shortcut options to streamline browsing. "We've received incredible feedback since launching our new browser, ChatGPT Atlas, yesterday. We're really focused on building the best product for all of you, and since launch, the team has been heads down making it better," he said on X. Speaking of AI, Atlas's built-in intelligence tools will also get some improvements. The AI agent, available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users, will soon deliver faster response times, better task pausing, and tighter integration with Google Drive and cloud-based Excel platforms. Additionally, the AskChatGPT sidebar, which allows users to interact with the chatbot without switching tabs, will get a redesigned interface that makes it easier to manage multiple projects and switch between AI models. OpenAI is also working on new convenience features, including a way to automatically restore pinned tabs after restarting and copy-paste support directly from the sidebar, two of the most requested user suggestions. Fry also mentioned that Atlas will be partnering with 1Password to address compatibility issues. However, he did mention that some of the upcoming projects remain under wraps.

ChatGPT Atlas to Comet: Agentic AI browsers pose security risks, says Brave report

AI assistants in browsers blur lines between trusted and malicious content When OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas on October 21, the world was promised a new kind of browsing experience - one where you could talk to the web. Atlas, an AI-powered browser with ChatGPT 5 model built-in, tries to reimagine the humble address bar as a conversational interface. You could ask it to summarize a web page, compare flight prices across tabs, or even book a table for two - all without typing a single search query. But while ChatGPT Atlas boasts layers of privacy controls - no file access, no local code execution, sensitive-site safeguards, and the reassuring ability to "watch what your AI is doing in real time" - the latest OpenAI launch came with a shadow. The very same day, Brave Browser's security team dropped a report that raised security concerns about this new wave of smart, AI-embedded browsers. Their findings suggest that agentic AI browsers, including Atlas, are walking a knife's edge between convenience and catastrophe. Brave's engineers, led by senior security researcher Artem Chaikin, didn't mince words. "AI-powered browsers that can take actions on your behalf are powerful yet extremely risky," their post declared. The team's investigation had uncovered a class of vulnerabilities that bend the rules of web security to a whole new level with agentic AI browsers. The core problem, as Brave explains, is structural. Traditional browsers are built on a simple trust model, where the content you see on a web page is separate from the system that controls your computer. But when an AI assistant can click, scroll, and fill forms on your behalf, that line starts to blur dangerously. Suddenly, the words or images on a page aren't just passive data - they're potential commands from a hacker or online scammer. Also read: OpenAI's ChatGPT-powered Atlas web browser is here: Here are top 5 features Brave's latest disclosure outlines two important case studies. The first, targeting Perplexity's Comet browser assistant, used a new twist on prompt injection by hiding malicious instructions in faint, nearly invisible text inside images. The second, in a rival browser called Fellou, weaponized the act of navigation itself. Simply asking the browser to "visit" a malicious site could trigger a cascade of unauthorized actions. The AI would read the page, interpret embedded text as trusted input, and follow instructions the user never gave. As Brave puts it, "Agentic browser assistants can be prompt-injected by untrusted webpage content, rendering protections such as the same-origin policy irrelevant." The implications of this for an unsuspecting online user are stark and can be far-reaching. It doesn't take a lot to imagine the different ways in which this agentic AI browser behaviour can be a security risk for unguarded users. For example, imagine you're researching investment options, reading Reddit threads, checking your Gmail in another tab. Atlas - or any agentic browser - offers to summarize a discussion about "best high-yield accounts." You agree. Unbeknownst to you, the AI assistant reads hidden instructions on that same page telling it to "check the user's open tabs for banking portals and copy any visible text fields." It's not far-fetched, but exactly the kind of security nightmare Brave says is already possible when prompt sanitization fails. In Perplexity's case, the malicious text wasn't even visible to humans - pale blue letters on a yellow background, indistinguishable from a stray pixel. But when the assistant took a screenshot for analysis, optical character recognition (OCR) picked up the hidden command and obediently followed it. And because these assistants often operate with the same privileges as the user, their missteps carry weight. Your banking session cookie, your corporate Slack, your health records - all within reach of a line of text the AI wasn't supposed to see. To its credit, OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas team anticipated some of these concerns. The browser ships with what it calls agentic containment: strict controls that stop the AI from running code, downloading files, or touching your local system. "Sensitive websites trigger a safety pause," reads the related ChatGPT Atlas' documentation, requiring explicit user approval before the AI acts. There's also a live monitoring feature - users can watch every automated click as it happens and hit stop at any moment. Also read: ChatGPT Atlas vs Perplexity Comet: Major differences, feature comparison, and everything else you should know Perhaps most importantly, Atlas defaults to data non-retention: your browsing data isn't used for model training unless you opt in. Memories, when enabled, are stored privately and can be deleted with a click. On paper, it's a model of transparency - an AI companion that remembers you just enough to help, but not enough to haunt. Yet Brave's research highlights vulnerabilities in the basic premise of agentic AI browsers that challenge ChatGPT Atlas' digital fortress. Which is the inherent risk of letting a conversational AI interpret and act on untrusted web content.

ChatGPT Atlas AI browser: Compatible devices, top features, how to download and use it for free

Agent Mode can book, buy, and manage tasks directly within the browser. OpenAI has officially stepped into the browser wars with its brand-new ChatGPT Atlas AI browser, marking a major expansion beyond its popular ChatGPT and Sora platforms. The new browser aims to redefine how users search, browse, and interact with the web, all through seamless AI integration. Designed to make everyday browsing more intelligent and intuitive, Atlas blends ChatGPT's conversational prowess with powerful automation tools. Currently available for Mac users, the browser is free to download. Here's who can use it, features and all other details. At launch, ChatGPT Atlas is exclusive to Mac users. While anyone can download the browser for free, its standout Agent Mode, which automates tasks like booking appointments and making purchases, is available only to Pro, Plus, and Enterprise users. OpenAI has confirmed that iOS, Android, and Windows versions are in development, but no official rollout date has been announced yet. The ChatGPT Atlas browser comes with deep AI integration to make browsing faster, more contextual, and more personalised. Users can access ChatGPT directly from a sidebar while surfing, allowing them to draft emails, summarise articles, write code, or autofill forms without switching tabs. Atlas also comes with a personalised memory system that remembers user activity and preferences, enabling more intelligent recommendations and queries, such as "Show me the job listings I viewed last week." Also read: Oppo Find X9 Pro, Find X9 leaks: Launch date, specs, price and more Additionally, Search is powered entirely by ChatGPT's AI engine, rather than Google or Bing, and offers contextual tabs for web, images, videos, and news in a clean split-view layout. The browser's new Agentic Mode takes things further, allowing ChatGPT to perform real-world actions such as booking reservations, comparing prices, or planning events autonomously. Furthermore, in-line text editing lets users refine or rewrite content directly within emails or documents, eliminating the need to copy and paste between tabs

ChatGPT Atlas launched but do we really need a new browser in 2025?

HIGHLIGHTS ChatGPT Atlas brings AI straight into your browser. Agent mode and browser memory make it feel smarter. It's promising, but privacy and trust will decide its future. OpenAI now has its own web browser called ChatGPT Atlas, which immediately became the talk of the town right after its launch. Atlas is built around the same conversational AI that powers ChatGPT. The company says it's not just another browser but a rethink of how people use the web. Atlas is now available globally on macOS, with versions for Windows, iOS and Android coming soon. In simple terms, Atlas brings ChatGPT directly into your browsing window, meaning you can ask questions, automate tasks, or get help while surfing the web without having to switch between tabs. It's designed to act less like a search engine and more like an assistant that can understand your context and help you get work done seamlessly. Also read: OpenAI launches ChatGPT backed Atlas browser to rival Google Chrome: Features, how to use and more At its core, Atlas combines a regular browser with ChatGPT's intelligence. The standout feature is 'agent mode', which allows ChatGPT to take action on your behalf, such as researching topics, planning events, or even booking appointments. You can, for instance, tell it to find the best hotel options for a trip, and it can browse and compile the results for you. Another big addition is 'browser memory', where ChatGPT can remember what you've viewed and bring that context back later. For example, it can recall job listings you checked last week and create a summary of industry trends for your next interview. Atlas also lets you control how much ChatGPT can see or remember. You can delete browsing history, clear specific pages, or open an incognito window to temporarily log out of ChatGPT. Memories are private to your account, and OpenAI says they're not used to train its models unless you explicitly allow it. There are also parental controls that let parents disable features like browser memory or agent mode, which shows OpenAI is trying to address privacy and safety concerns from the start. In everyday use, Atlas should feel familiar because you can import your bookmarks, passwords and history from Chrome or Safari, which makes it easier to get started. Once you're in, ChatGPT sits right in the tab, ready to assist with whatever you're doing. The advantages are clear if you spend a lot of time researching, writing, or multitasking online. Instead of manually opening several tabs or copying and pasting information into ChatGPT, you can just ask Atlas to summarise, analyse or perform actions directly within the page. It saves time and cuts down on distractions like ads and pop-ups that clutter traditional browsing. However, it's not without trade-offs. Atlas doesn't yet support browser extensions or the kind of advanced media playback you get on Chrome or Safari. Watching Netflix, for example, or using complex web apps might still work better elsewhere. And while the idea of ChatGPT reading and acting on your browsing context is convenient, it also raises questions about how much data users are comfortable sharing, even with OpenAI's assurances that controls are in place. That's the real question, isn't it? For years, browsers have evolved in small ways: faster tabs, better design, privacy modes, but none have truly changed how we interact with the web. Atlas is one of the first serious attempts to move from browsing to doing. It's trying to make your browser not just a window to the internet, but a workspace where an AI assistant helps you get things done. From my experience using Atlas on macOS, it feels surprisingly polished for a first release. My passwords, bookmarks and browsing data carried over from Chrome without issues, and ChatGPT being built into the window is genuinely useful. It feels like Chrome with an extra layer of intelligence sitting on top. The real test, however, will be how it performs over time; whether it remains stable, secure, and genuinely helpful beyond novelty. So, do we need another browser in 2025? Probably not another ordinary one. But Atlas isn't just ordinary. It's different, ambitious, and familiar enough that it doesn't feel alien. Whether it replaces Chrome or Safari for most people is another matter altogether, but it's certainly a step towards a future where your browser doesn't just display the web, it understands it.

OpenAI's ChatGPT-powered Atlas web browser is here: Here are top 5 features

HIGHLIGHTS OpenAI has launched Atlas, an AI-powered web browser. Atlas is built with ChatGPT at its core. One of the standout features of Atlas is Agent Mode. The web browsing experience is changing fast, and AI is at the center of it. With players like Perplexity's Comet and Gemini in Google Chrome, navigating the internet is no longer just about opening tabs and searching, it's becoming smarter and more interactive. Now, OpenAI has joined the race with its new browser: ChatGPT Atlas. Available starting today for macOS (with Windows and mobile coming soon), Atlas isn't just a typical browser with ChatGPT added on top. Instead, it promises to get work done by embedding an AI assistant directly into every part of your browsing experience. Here are the five standout features of the Atlas web browser. 1. ChatGPT in every tab Each tab in Atlas can become a conversation with ChatGPT. Whether you type a question, paste a link, or start a research task, the AI is ready to help. "A browser built with ChatGPT takes us closer to a true super-assistant that understands your world and helps you achieve your goals," OpenAI said in a blogpost. 2. Context-aware assistant Atlas can understand your current page, open tabs, and even your login status (if you allow it). This context lets ChatGPT give more accurate, personal responses, whether you're shopping, researching, or writing. Also read: OpenAI launches ChatGPT backed Atlas browser to rival Google Chrome: Features, how to use and more 3. In-line writing help If you often use ChatGPT to write emails or documents, Atlas makes it easier. The browser can help you draft, edit, or refine text directly on websites, Google Docs, and other online platforms, no need to copy and paste anything. 4. Agent mode (preview) Available in preview for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users, Agent Mode takes AI beyond chatting. It can plan events, research topics, summarise documents, or even manage tasks across multiple tabs on your behalf. 5. Built-in memory Atlas can remember pages you've visited, tasks you've started, and ideas you've explored. "Browser memories in Atlas are completely optional, and you're always in control: you can view or archive them at any time in settings, and deleting browsing history deletes any associated browser memories," OpenAI explained. Also read: ChatGPT Atlas vs Perplexity Comet: Major differences, feature comparison, and everything else you should know

OpenAI launches ChatGPT backed Atlas browser to rival Google Chrome: Features, how to use and more

OpenAI has introduced a new web browser called Atlas, marking the company's most significant step yet toward becoming a broader computing platform rather than just a chatbot service. With Atlas, OpenAI now enters direct competition with browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Perplexity's AI-driven Comet. Announced on Tuesday, Atlas integrates ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience, allowing users to interact with the AI model as they navigate the web. This suggests that the company envisions AI assistants, not users, navigating the complexities of the internet in the near future. The launch is part of OpenAI's ongoing effort to expand its ecosystem of products, including ChatGPT Pulse, the Sora video creation app, and new developer tools, into what seems like a full operating system built around AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described Atlas as "a rare once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be." Speaking during a livestream, Altman said that while browser tabs revolutionised web navigation decades ago, innovation since then has been minimal. Atlas, he added, aims to combine the flexibility of a traditional browser with the intelligence of an integrated AI assistant. At launch, Atlas offers three key features: Chat, Memory, and Agent. Instead of using Google or Bing, searches are handled through ChatGPT. Users can invoke ChatGPT from any webpage using an "Ask ChatGPT" sidebar, enabling context-aware assistance for tasks like drafting emails, researching topics, or summarising long articles. The browser also supports Memory, which lets ChatGPT recall information from previous chats and browsing sessions to provide continuity. Users can manage or delete these memories at any time, and an incognito mode disables data collection. OpenAI has stated that browsing content will not be used for model training unless users explicitly opt in. A new Agent mode allows ChatGPT to perform certain online actions on the user's behalf, such as filling out forms, organising research, or making online purchases. During the demo, OpenAI showed that users can monitor or halt these actions at any time using "take control" or red "stop" buttons. The company has implemented safeguards to prevent misuse. The agent cannot execute code, install extensions, or access local files, and it pauses automatically on sensitive websites like banks. OpenAI acknowledged potential risks, such as malicious instructions embedded in webpages, and said it is conducting ongoing security testing and red-teaming to mitigate these threats. Atlas is launching worldwide for macOS users starting Tuesday. Agent mode will be available initially to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business subscribers, while free-tier users will have access to the standard browsing experience. OpenAI said Windows, iOS, and Android versions are in development and will be released soon. To encourage adoption, OpenAI is offering an incentive: users who set Atlas as their default browser will receive a temporary increase in ChatGPT data limits for seven days. Earlier this month, the company opened ChatGPT to third-party developers, enabling integrations with apps such as Spotify. It has also begun testing in-chat purchasing through partners like Etsy, Shopify, and Walmart. As Altman put it, Atlas is "a step toward a world where most web use happens through agentic systems where you can delegate the routine and stay focused on what matters most."