OpenAI launches AI-powered browser ChatGPT Atlas

OpenAI announced Tuesday that it has launched an AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas. The company says Atlas will first roll out on MacOS with support for Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon, and that the product will be available to all free users at launch.

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 like in Perplexity or in Google’s AI mode.

AI-powered browsers are expected to become a major area of competition with chatbots and agents challenging the dominance of Google Chrome. Google-parent company Alphabet saw its market value drop by nearly $100 billion on Tuesday after OpenAI’s announcement, and Google’s shares fell almost by 5%. This makes it one of the sharpest intraday declines in months.

OpenAI says Atlas looks and feels similar to existing browsers, but is built around ChatGPT. That means users will be able to access ChatGPT to create summaries, ask questions and complete tasks as they navigate across any page on the web. Atlas users will see an “Ask ChatGPT” button on the top right corner of every web page, and clicking it will open up the chatbot in a companion sidebar.

“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 on Tuesday.

OpenAI’s Product Lead Adam Fry said that ChatGPT Atlas will have the sidecar feature, too. ChatGPT Atlas also 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.