OpenAI launches AI-powered Atlas Browser, in challenge to Google

AI startup OpenAI is coming to Google Chrome.

The maker of the world’s most valuable ChatGPT maker launched its long-awaited AI-driven browser on Tuesday, in a move that could challenge leading browsers like Google (GOOGL) Chrome.

The new browser, Atlas, comes with the company’s leading chatbot, ChatGPT, eliminating the need to copy and paste resources from the web into conversations in a separate application, according to OpenAI.

OpenAI said Atlas can also perform tasks in “agent mode,” such as planning events or booking appointments, though that’s only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users at the moment, CEO Sam Altman said during the live stream.

The browser is available to Apple macOS users from Tuesday, with the AI ​​startup promising to roll out to Windows, Android and iOS soon.

The move puts OpenAI’s offerings in direct competition with Google, which has already acknowledged that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a threat. While other companies, including Microsoft, have browsers as well, Google’s browser is by far the most popular, accounting for over 60% of browser share by some estimates.

In a high-profile decision last month, a judge who ruled a year ago that Google ran a monopoly in search decided not to force the tech giant to sell Chrome, in part because of the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the threat that newer companies in the space like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity pose to its dominance.

Meanwhile, Google is striving to enhance its Chrome browser with AI features that will help it retain users amid widespread expectations that OpenAI will launch an AI-powered browser. Google rolled out its Gemini chatbot in Chrome last month for Mac and Windows desktop users in the US

Google shares fell nearly 2% in recent trading following the OpenAI announcement. They added about a third of their value in 2025, thanks in part to strong demand for its cloud services to support artificial intelligence.