New Delhi: OpenAI has taken another major step in reshaping how people interact with technology.
The company has unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, an artificial intelligence-powered web browser designed around its popular chatbot. The move signals OpenAI’s intent to challenge Google Chrome’s dominance and expand its presence across users’ daily online activities.
Atlas is built entirely around ChatGPT, making the AI assistant the basis of how users explore, search, and interact with the web. The browser is now available globally for macOS users, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions on the way.
Browser Built Around AI
Unlike Chrome or Microsoft Edge, which integrate AI as a feature, Atlas puts ChatGPT at the center of the browsing experience.
Users can open a new tab and start by simply asking ChatGPT a question, pasting a link, or giving it a task. Instead of showing a traditional list of search results, Atlas responds conversationally, summarizing, suggesting, or completing tasks directly.
Ryan O’Rouke, OpenAI’s lead designer, explained that Atlas changes the structure of online search. When users type something like “movie reviews,” Atlas first shows a chat-style summary generated by ChatGPT, followed by traditional results like links, images, and videos. This design reverses Google’s approach, where AI insights appear beside or below the search results. In Atlas, the AI’s response becomes the main focus, and the web results are supporting elements.
Agent Mode to Turn ChatGPT into a Digital Assistant
One of the most notable features of Atlas is its Agent Mode, available to paid ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users. In this mode, ChatGPT can take actions on behalf of the user, not just provide answers.
During the launch demo, OpenAI showed ChatGPT finding a recipe and automatically purchasing the ingredients through Instacart. The chatbot navigated the website, selected items, and added them to the cart, completing a process that usually takes several minutes. This capability goes beyond simple automation; it turns ChatGPT into a functional agent that can browse, interact, and complete multi-step tasks independently.
Sidebar for Real-Time Interaction
Atlas includes a ChatGPT sidebar that can be opened on any website. This allows users to get instant summaries, compare prices, analyse data, or ask for explanations without leaving the page. For example, while reading a news article, a user can ask the sidebar to summarize it or provide background information.
According to the company, this feature makes Atlas more interactive than existing browser extensions. Instead of pulling in data passively, ChatGPT can understand the context of what’s on screen and engage with it in real time.
Memory That Remembers Browsing Context
Atlas also introduces a browser memory system that, when enabled, can remember what websites the user visited, what they researched, and what tasks they started.
This allows ChatGPT to pick up where the user left off. The user can even use natural language commands such as “Reopen the travel site from yesterday” or “Close my recipe tabs.”
When memory is disabled, Atlas functions like a traditional browser, offering privacy and a clean slate. When turned on, it behaves more like a digital assistant that understands the user’s habits and helps them continue unfinished work seamlessly.
Built-In Writing and Editing Tools
Another area where Atlas differentiates itself is writing and productivity. The browser allows users to write or edit text directly in web fields, such as emails, job applications, or online documents, with ChatGPT’s help.
Instead of copying and pasting between ChatGPT and a browser window, users can get real-time suggestions and revisions without leaving the page. This integration could make Atlas particularly useful for writers, students, and professionals who use the web as their main workspace.
How ChatGPT Atlas Differs from Other Browsers
Most web browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari, still follow a model where users search, click, and navigate across pages manually. AI tools are often added through extensions or side panels, but they remain separate from the core browsing experience.
ChatGPT Atlas changes that. It builds the complete browsing process around AI, not alongside it. Every tab, search bar, and website becomes part of a conversation with ChatGPT. Instead of jumping between tabs or copying information, users can ask ChatGPT to handle tasks directly, from summarizing research to booking flights.
Unlike Chrome or Edge, where users rely on search results to find answers, Atlas delivers the answers first and offers supporting links afterward. Its built-in memory allows it to recall previous sessions, something traditional browsers lack. Furthermore, with Agent Mode, it can perform actions on behalf of the user, turning web browsing into a hands-free, conversational process.
The Road Ahead
By launching Atlas, OpenAI is expanding its reach beyond text-based chat and into full digital environments. Atlas’s integration of memory, automation, and conversational browsing could mark the start of a new phase in internet use, one where AI becomes part of how people browse, shop, and work online.
Also Read
AMD, Meta Collaborate on Open Rack ‘Helios’ to Advance AI Infrastructure Standards
