OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, has announced the launch of its search browser Atlas, leveraging its AI expertise to directly challenge Google Chrome.
A browser built around ChatGPT
“This is an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT,” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in a streamed presentation.
The direct challenge to Google and traditional search
OpenAI stepped up its challenge to Google, which responded by quickly integrating additional AI capabilities into search and its platform.
Atlas integrated into macOS with ChatGPT in the sidebar
This browser, initially only available for Apple’s macOS operating system, integrates ChatGPT into a sidebar, allowing generative AI to analyze the web page being viewed and provide contextual help, without having to copy and paste between tabs.
Intelligent navigation: AI can take action for the user
ChatGPT Atlas also proposes to allow AI to manage navigation, control the cursor, and perform specific actions such as booking a flight, filling out a form, or editing a document.
The similarities with Edge and Comet
Most of these features are similar to those that are gradually being rolled out in other competing browsers, such as Microsoft’s Edge or Comet from AI startup Perplexity.
OpenAI and the power of 800 million users
But this time, they’re built around the world’s most widely used generative AI model, with OpenAI boasting 800 million weekly users.
The immediate effect on the markets: Alphabet loses 3%
In a sign of what’s at stake, the release of an OpenAI video showing browser tabs two hours before the announcement immediately caused Alphabet’s shares to drop more than 3%. With less than two hours left until the end of trading on Wall Street, the shares of Google’s parent company still lost 1.5%.