OpenAI is shutting down Atlas, but its AI browser ambitions are still growing

OpenAI is sunsetting Atlas, the AI-powered browser it launched successful October with ChatGPT astatine its core. But it’s not giving up connected the thought that AI should assistance radical browse the web. Instead, it’s taking immoderate of the agentic browsing features it tested successful Atlas and redistributing them crossed ChatGPT’s desktop app and a Google Chrome extension. 

The determination to unopen down Atlas comes a fewer months aft OpenAI’s CEO of applications Fidji Simo told the squad to cut backmost connected “side quests,” which led to the AI steadfast shutting down its AI video procreation instrumentality Sora.

For overmuch of the past year, the AI manufacture had been engaged successful a war to unseat Chrome arsenic the spot wherever radical walk astir of their clip online. Perplexity launched Comet, The Browser Company launched Dia, and Google and Microsoft person updated Chrome and Edge, respectively, with caller AI-powered features. 

After a fewer months of experimenting, OpenAI appears to person concluded that the browser is simply a feature, not the destination. So it’s folding Atlas’s browser-like cause capabilities into the places radical already enactment — and that includes Chrome. 

OpenAI is launching a ChatGPT hold connected Chrome that gives it entree to the discourse of the leafage you’re viewing, lets users inquire questions astir webpages, summarize content, oregon commencement longer tasks each from the browser. It’s a nonstop rival to Google’s Gemini Side Panel, which performs respective of the aforesaid tasks. 

OpenAI is besides boosting its ChatGPT desktop app by featuring a much robust browser that allows users to browse websites, log into accounts, download files, and interact with web pages without leaving ChatGPT. A abstracted unreality browser runs remotely connected OpenAI’s servers arsenic a spot wherever the app’s agents tin implicit tasks connected a user’s behalf. 

Together, the updates crook ChatGPT into a continuous workspace that spans Chrome, the desktop app, and an AI agent.