OpenAI’s newly introduced Atlas browser represents a striking departure from the conventional web browsing experience by prioritizing AI-generated answers over traditional web links. Unlike typical browsers where each click leads users to a different website or webpage, in Atlas, every interaction is an opportunity to engage with ChatGPT, OpenAI’s language model, integrated directly into the browsing environment. This innovative approach aims to blend the vast informational resources of the internet with the contextual understanding and conversational capabilities of AI, potentially changing how people navigate and consume online content.
At the heart of Atlas is the idea that users can interact with ChatGPT seamlessly as they browse. Rather than typing queries into a separate app or website, asking a question in the browser’s address bar triggers a ChatGPT response. Additionally, the browser features an “Ask ChatGPT” sidebar that can analyze and contextualize the webpage currently displayed, providing summaries, insights, or suggestions relevant to the content on screen. This AI sidebar acts as a personal assistant that can help make sense of complex or dense information without needing to leave the page. For example, during the browser’s launch livestream, OpenAI’s lead designer, Ryan O’Rouke, demonstrated how the Ask ChatGPT feature could summarize GitHub code appearing on a webpage, calling it a “major unlock” because it allows ChatGPT to “see” and interpret the specific content the user is viewing. O’Rouke described it as “inviting ChatGPT into your corner of the internet,” highlighting the deep integration between browsing and AI assistance.
The Ask ChatGPT tool in Atlas is free to use, offering an accessible way for users to engage with AI while browsing. However, some more advanced capabilities, such as the browser’s “agent mode” that can autonomously perform tasks like shopping on Amazon, remain exclusive to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. These agents can interact with websites, click around, and complete tasks on behalf of users—a feature that exemplifies how the lines between browsing and AI automation are beginning to blur. In Atlas, ChatGPT appears as a column on the right side of the screen, similar to AI sidebars found in other browsers like Perplexity’s Comet or Microsoft Edge, but with OpenAI’s distinctive conversational AI at its core.
Despite the excitement surrounding Atlas’s novel concept, early user experiences reveal some challenges. The browser is built on Chromium, the open-source project powering Chrome and several other popular browsers, which means it looks and feels familiar to Chrome users. During initial testing, the visual and functional similarities were so strong that it was easy to confuse Atlas with Chrome. However, Atlas is still in its infancy with many planned features on the horizon, such as tab groups and an integrated ad-blocker, which could enhance its competitiveness and user appeal over time. Currently, Atlas is only available on macOS, limiting its reach to a specific segment of users.
During the first few days of using the Ask ChatGPT sidebar, some issues became apparent. The sidebar’s presence squeezes the main content area, compressing websites and sometimes ruining their layout. For instance, the WIRED homepage appeared notably distorted and cramped when the sidebar was active, detracting from the browsing experience. This layout issue alone may discourage users who prefer an uncluttered, immersive view of websites.
Moreover, the AI’s responses often felt underwhelming or disconnected from the user’s context. When browsing the Xbox website and asking ChatGPT for game recommendations, the suggestions were generic and did not reflect the user’s personal preferences, despite the AI having access to over a year’s worth of prior interactions. Similarly, when the AI was asked to prioritize which email in a Gmail inbox should be answered first, it suggested a message that had already been replied to, indicating a lack of nuanced understanding or up-to-date context.
In another example, while trying to decide if the movie Bugonia was worth seeing, the AI’s summary of Rotten Tomatoes reviews was excessively long and inefficient, prompting the user to abandon the sidebar and manually read through the reviews instead. These instances underscore that although the AI can process and summarize information, it sometimes struggles with precision, relevance, or brevity—key qualities for a truly helpful browsing assistant.
One of the most intriguing and unexpected interactions involved the AI’s handling of privacy and data visibility. While scrolling through Bluesky, a social media platform, and asking ChatGPT to identify trends in the timeline, the AI noted themes like “political anxiety” and “everyday absurdism