New Delhi: OpenAI has recently upgraded something unique and unbelievable, and they have positioned themselves as the latest gateway to the Internet with the global launch of its latest web browsers, Atlas, a product that could, at least in theory, bypass Google entirely. ChatGPT has lived inside the tab on whichever browser users preferred, requiring them to visit the site each time they had a query. Atlas changes that the chatbot is built directly into the browser’s interface, enabling users to ask questions and generate summaries alongside whatever they are viewing on their screens.
OpenAI’s first fully-fledged browser product, Operator, is a browser-based agent designed to automate routine online tasks such as filling out forms. Atlas, by contrast, aims to redefine the browsing experience itself. Each time a user visits the website in Atlas, the Ask ChatGPT sidebar appears. They might, for instance, open an article on the latest scientific discovery and prompt ChatGPT to summarise it, or pull up a recipe and ask the AI to order ingredients online.
OpenAI has entered a crowded and fast-evolving field dominated by Google and Perplexity, both of which are competing for AI browser dominance. Perplexity released its Comet browser earlier this year, positioning it as a personal assistant that can act as a personal assistant, automate tasks, research the web and organise user email. Google has been weaving its Gemini AI directly into Chrome. Microsoft, OpenAI’s most prominent financial backer, also rolled out an AI Copilot Mode in its Edge browser in July.
The launch also underscores OpenAI’s ambitions to expand beyond the 800 million people who use ChatGPT each week and to find the latest ways to monetise free users. Earlier this month, Altman stated that the company would permit a broader range of content, including erotica, on its chatbot platform, describing it as an effort to treat adult users like adults. Owning a browser also gives OpenAI something it has been aiming for: a direct relationship with the users. Many currently access ChatGPT through the browsers controlled by Google and Microsoft, with permission, ChatGPT in Atlas can draw from the user’s web history to provide more personalised answers and suggestions.
