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Kenya, 22 October 2025 - OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has launched its own web browser named Atlas, positioning itself in direct competition with Google Chrome as artificial intelligence increasingly transforms how people search and consume information online.
Atlas, unveiled this week for Apple Mac users, blends traditional browsing with OpenAI’s conversational AI technology. It allows users to surf the web while directly interacting with ChatGPT on any page, eliminating the need to switch tabs or copy text into the chatbot. The browser will later be available on Windows, iOS, and Android devices.
“We wanted Atlas to feel like a natural extension of the user, not just another browser with a chat button,” said lead engineer Ben Goodger.
Product lead Adam Fry added that Atlas retains familiar features such as tabs, bookmarks, password autofill, and incognito mode while introducing new AI-powered tools that can research, summarize, and even book activities for users through natural language prompts.
The introduction of Atlas signals OpenAI’s ambition to reshape the browsing experience and potentially challenge Google’s dominance in search.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman described it as “a rare, once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one.”
However, analysts warn that competing with Chrome, which boasts over three billion users worldwide, will be no easy task.
“It’s a massive uphill battle against a giant with overwhelming market share,” said Forrester analyst Paddy Harrington.
The launch comes months after OpenAI reportedly expressed interest in buying Google’s Chrome browser during an antitrust case in the United States, though a judge later rejected the sale. Still, Chrome’s success story, overtaking Microsoft’s Internet Explorer after its 2008 debut, could serve as a model for OpenAI’s Atlas if it manages to capture user interest through speed, simplicity, and innovation.
Atlas’s AI integration could also reshape online advertising and publishing. With ChatGPT summarising search results and delivering direct answers, users may spend less time clicking through links, posing challenges for traditional web traffic and media revenue models.
A recent European Broadcasting Union study found nearly half of AI-generated news responses from major chatbots, including ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, contained factual or contextual errors. Such findings underline ongoing concerns about accuracy and misinformation as AI takes on a greater role in how people access information.
Despite the hurdles, OpenAI remains optimistic. “This is just the beginning,” Altman said. “There’s a lot more to add as we rethink how people interact with the web.”
