OpenAI to launch ChatGPT Atlas AI browser, taking on Google Chrome

Google's shares declined as much as 4.8% on the news

OpenAI is set to unveil its first artificial intelligence-powered web browser, putting the ChatGPT maker in competition on a new front with Alphabet Inc.’s Google. 

The browser will be called ChatGPT Atlas, according to a description posted by the company on its official YouTube account ahead of a livestreamed event scheduled for Tuesday. Atlas will be available globally on macOS to start, the company said, with plans to expand to Windows, iOS and Android “soon.” 

OpenAI joins a growing number of companies that are using AI to reimagine the web browser, a product that dates back to the 1990s. Perplexity AI Inc. recently rolled out Comet, an AI browser that’s designed to act as a digital assistant, automating tasks for users. Opera and The Browser Company are also both integrating more AI features into their browsers. 

Google’s shares declined as much as 4.8 per cent on the news. 

In September, Google incorporated its Gemini AI model into the Chrome browser. Among other tasks, Google’s AI can respond to requests to provide explanations of the web pages visited, condense information across multiple tabs and even bring back some of the websites previously closed. 

Google’s move came two weeks after a US judge ruled against a government proposal that would have forced the company to sell off Chrome. In a court hearing, executives from Perplexity and OpenAI said they would have been interested in buying Chrome if Google had been required to divest it.