OpenAI launches web browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in challenge to Google

OpenAI said Tuesday it is launching an artificial intelligence-powered website browser, heightening the company’s competition with Google, the Alphabet-owned unit that has long dominated online search. 

The new browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, is for now only available on Apple laptops that run the company’s Mac operating system. Access will soon expand to Apple’s iOS, Microsoft Windows and Google’s Android platforms, OpenAI said.

In the company’s launch video, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described Atlas as an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT that will allow people to converse with web pages. In a video presentation, he also expressed confidence that a chatbot interface will eventually supplant a traditional browser’s URL bar.

“Tabs were great, but we haven’t seen a lot of browser innovation since then,” he said.

OpenAI has said ChatGPT has more than 800 million users, although the San Francisco-based company has yet to turn a profit. Google’s Chrome browser has roughly 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features drawing on the company’s Gemini AI technology.

—This is a developing story and will be updated