David Bridges
Highlights
- Launch: OpenAI has introduced a new web browser called ChatGPT Atlas.
- Functionality: Atlas allows users to interact with ChatGPT directly while browsing.
- Agent Feature: The built-in Agent can perform tasks on behalf of the user.
- Availability: Currently available on macOS, with plans for Windows, iOS, and Android.
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.
What are the main features of ChatGPT Atlas?
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.
OpenAI emphasizes that Atlas provides users with a seamless way to engage with web content through ChatGPT.
How does the Agent feature work?
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.
OpenAI states that 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.”
When will ChatGPT Atlas be available for other platforms?
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.
How does ChatGPT Atlas compare to existing browsers?
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.
