OpenAI Takes Aim at Google Chrome: ChatGPT Atlas Launches as the ‘AI-First’ Web Browser
OpenAI is taking on Google in its first web browser. ChatGPT Atlas is an extension of ChatGPT’s AI chatbot, designed for the user to accomplish tasks. The concept behind Atlas is a browser that interprets user requirements rather than just opening a window to the internet.
ChatGPT Atlas is based on 3 functions
Chat: Users will see an “Ask ChatGPT” button on each page. Clicking it will open a sidebar and users can start a chat session about the page. They can ask for a summary, get the chatbot to compare products, merge data from the site, or other things.
Memory: Atlas is designed to keep a memory of past interactions (if the user allows it) so that it can provide more contextual and personalized assistance. Users can edit or delete the data or choose an incognito mode, which has no memory.
Agent: This is the more futuristic step. It allows the AI to start multi-step transactions. It will book flights, edit documents, shop online, and even hop between multiple pages to get a job done.
This is different from existing browsers (for example, Google Chrome) where browsing and search are 2 separate actions. In Atlas’ conception of the future, the browser doesn’t just let you do things, it understands what you’re trying to do and helps you do it without context-switching or leaving the page.
Availability & Support
ChatGPT Atlas is available for Mac users as of today. Full access to the Agent features will be available only to subscribers of ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro for the time being.
OpenAI says the Windows, iOS and Android versions are coming, and will be released in the coming months.
This delayed and staggered release schedule indicates that OpenAI may be moving cautiously, and may be using the process to test and iterate on different platforms.
Why It’s Important
OpenAI’s browser is an attempt to re-imagine how we access and use the internet. If successful, ChatGPT Atlas could drive the biggest disruption to web browsing in over two decades.
Atlas is betting on a vision of the future where new browsing capabilities and AI assistants are as fundamental to the web as new websites and services themselves. As OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at launch, “AI is a once-a-decade opportunity to rethink the browser.”
And with this launch, OpenAI isn’t just challenging established browsers such as Chrome. It’s also vying for market share against newer entrants to the market, such as the Comet browser launched last month by Perplexity AI.
Whether it can gain widespread adoption will depend on how much users are willing to embrace a browser that promises to go beyond being a tool for navigation, and instead become a personal assistant.
Atlas is only for Mac users right now (full access to some features requires subscription). OpenAI is expected to roll out the browser for Windows, iOS and Android in the coming months.
It may be some time before we know whether ChatGPT Atlas redefines browsing in the AI era, but one thing is for sure: when the future browser arrives, it will not only show users the web, but help them do things on the web.
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