OpenAI has launched its own artificial intelligence-powered web browser, ChatGPT Atlas, placing the AI giant in direct competition with Google’s Chrome browser, the company announced Tuesday.
“We think that AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about — how to use one, and how to most productively and pleasantly use the web,” OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said during a livestream Tuesday afternoon.
While Atlas will look and feel like a traditional browser, it will have OpenAI’s generative chatbox ChatGPT as its “beating heart,” according to Ben Goodger, engineering lead for Atlas.
Goodger, who previously helped develop Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, said the idea for Atlas stemmed from a simple question: What if you could chat with your browser?
“And from that idea, we reimagined the entire experience, replacing years of clutter and complexity with simple conversation,” he said.
Atlas went live Tuesday for Apple desktops and laptops worldwide, but it should be available on more devices soon.
“We want to bring this to Windows and to mobile devices as quickly as we can,” Altman said, adding the project is still in its early days and that “there’s a lot more to add.”
The launch of Atlas comes a few months after an OpenAI executive said the company would consider buying Google’s Chrome browser if it were forced to sell amid monopoly concerns — an effort the U.S. government pursued but a judge ultimately rejected.
Chrome, the undisputed king of browsers, commands over 70% of the global market, with roughly 3.8 billion users, according to web analytics firm StatCounter.
Following OpenAI’s announcement, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, saw its shares drop roughly 3%.
