Two days after launching the OpenAI Atlas, Microsoft relaunched an almost identical AI browser

Microsoft released a new set of features for its AI assistant on Thursday, including an ambitious project that builds artificial intelligence directly into one of its most centralized products. More than just a simple extension, Copilot Mode in Microsoft Edge is Microsoft’s take on the long-awaited AI browser category — a smart, flexible AI assistant that follows you as you browse the web.

Mustafa Soliman, CEO of Microsoft AI, even described the new product in these terms in the announcement. “Copilot Mode in Edge evolves into an AI browser that is your dynamic and intelligent companion,” Soliman wrote in the announcement post. “With your permission, Copilot can see and reflect on your open tabs, summarize and compare information, and even take actions like booking a hotel or filling out forms.”

The official launch of Copilot Mode in Edge took place in July, when it rolled out with basic features like a new tab search bar and natural voice navigation. But the mode was enabled and it didn’t get the attention you expected. At Thursday’s event, Microsoft got more ambitious, introducing “Actions” that let Copilot fill out forms or book hotels and “Trips” that let Copilot track communications between open tabs. It’s not a huge product shift, but it was enough to put the AI ​​browser idea center stage at the event.

The announcement comes just two days after a similar launch from OpenAI, which showcased the new Atlas browser. Of course, the Copilot release has been scheduled for weeks, and the new Copilot mode has probably been in development for months. Neither company invented the idea of ​​an AI-powered web browser. But it’s hard to ignore the visual similarity between the two products.

These are two very similar pictures. The background of Copilot for Edge is a bit darker, there’s text instead of a logo, and the close/minimize buttons follow Windows conventions rather than MacOS conventions. Beyond that, Copilot puts its “ride along” functionality in a new tab instead of split-screen… but that’s about it. It’s pretty much the same product.

Part of the similarity is functional: people like clean browsers, and there are only a few ways to integrate a chatbot window into the New Tab screen. For users, the main difference will come from the base models, so a little facial similarity probably won’t make much of a difference.

Browsers mostly look the same anyway. But given the high stakes of the AI ​​race and the tense situation between the two companies, it seems significant that we got both browsers in the same week.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the October 23 event as the initial launch of Copilot for Edge. In fact, this feature was launched in July. TechCrunch regrets this error.