- Web Desk
- 6 Hours ago
OpenAI unveils AI-powered browser in challenge to Google
SAN FRANCISCO: ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Tuesday announced an “Atlas” search browser, leveraging its artificial intelligence prowess in a direct challenge to Google Chrome.
“This is an AI-powered web browser built around ChatGPT,” OpenAI chief Sam Altman said in a streamed presentation.
OpenAI has been ramping up its challenge to Google, which has responded by rapidly building more AI capabilities into search and across its platform.
The browser is now available globally on Apple’s macOS. It will soon be made available on Windows, iOS and Android.
Reuters had in July reported the AI startup, backed by Microsoft, was close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge Alphabet’s market-dominating Google Chrome.
“ChatGPT can see the page you’re on and answer your questions right there via the Ask ChatGPT sidebar,” OpenAI said in a post shared on X.
ALPHABET DOWN 2.6%
As the news was shared around the globe, shares of Alphabet, which owns the Chrome browser, were down 2.6 per cent in afternoon trading.
The product is the latest entrant in a fast-crowding field of AI browsers that includes Perplexity’s Comet and Opera’s Neon as companies weave in tools that can summarize pages, fill out forms and draft code to attract users.
Atlas lets users open a ChatGPT sidebar in any window to summarize content, compare products, or analyze data from any site. In the agent mode in Atlas, ChatGPT interacts with sites for users, who can use it to do tasks from start to finish, like researching and shopping for a trip.
In their immediate reaction, many people on social media welcomed Atlas.
However, the cursor would be under the control of the agent and not the human.
AI BUBBLE AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
The latest news comes Reuters reported last week that companies announcing multi-billion dollar investments in artificial intelligence have raised concerns about the formation of a bubble reminiscent of the dotcom boom and bust.
Investors are on guard for signals that demand is tailing off or that the massive spending is not paying off as anticipated.
A BofA Global Research’s monthly fund manager survey revealed that 54 per cent of investors said they thought that AI stocks were in a bubble compared with 38 per cent who do not believe that a bubble exists.
CUTTHROAT COMPETITION
Led by entrepreneur Sam Altman, OpenAI upended the tech industry with the launch of its AI chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022. After its initial success, OpenAI has faced stiff competition from rivals including Google and startup Anthropic, and has been looking for new areas of growth.
Read more: Musk’s xAI unveils Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT, China’s DeepSeek
Google integrated Gemini into its Chrome browser for users in the US last month, and the iOS Chrome app will also have Gemini built into it.
A federal judge in September ruled that Google won’t have to sell the Chrome browser.
It can keep paying partners to promote its search engine, Judge Amit Mehta ruled, noting that massive investment in generative AI — by Big Tech and startups — now threatens traditional search, making such payments more acceptable.
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