OpenAI launches new Atlas web browser

OpenAI just took a swing at the internet’s biggest gatekeepers. On Tuesday, the company rolled out ChatGPT Atlas, a brand-new web browser that incorporates its AI tech directly into the act of surfing the internet.

How it works: Atlas is designed to make web browsing feel more like a conversation thanks to built-in ChatGPT access, which lets users ask questions and summarize articles while browsing.

• Its flashiest trick, called “agent mode,” goes one step further. This feature allows Atlas to effectively click around the internet on the user’s behalf, armed with their browser history and what they’re trying to learn, all while explaining its process as it searches.
• OpenAI’s Atlas browser is currently available on Apple laptops, with plans to expand to all major operating systems in the near future.

Why launch a web browser? OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be the starting point of the internet, not just an app users open when they’re curious. But its new Atlas browser faces steep competition from Google Chrome, which claims ~3 billion global users and recently began layering its own Gemini-powered AI features into search and browsing.

Big picture: Roughly 60% of Americans—and 74% of those under 30—now use AI to find information, per a recent AP-NORC poll.