The new OpenAI browser is a broad shot at Google

Today, OpenAI launched its new Atlas web browser in a surprise livestream. The presentation began with CEO Sam Altman himself, speaking directly to the audience.

“We believe that artificial intelligence represents a rare, once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser is,” Altman said. “In the same way that, for the previous way people used the Internet, the URL bar and search box were a great analogue, what we’re starting to see is that the chat and web browser experience can be a great analogue.”

It was an inspiring remark, in classic Steve Jobs style. But more important than Altman’s browser was the junk he was sweeping aside to make room. It wasn’t just that current browsers were considered obsolete, it was part of a whole host of goods that were about to be replaced by artificial intelligence — part of, in Altman’s words, “the previous way people used the Internet.” Most of these soon-to-be-obsolete services belong to one company: Google.

The OpenAI browser project has been an open secret in Silicon Valley since at least this summer — and it was clear from the beginning that it would pose a potential threat to Google, the current owner of the world’s most popular browser. But the product details and presentation released Tuesday made clear exactly how much the web giant stands to lose in the age of artificial intelligence — and how little Google will succeed with Gemini.

The immediate threat is simple enough: ChatGPT attracts 800 million users weekly, and if those users switch to Atlas, they will likely switch away from Chrome. Losing those users doesn’t create an immediate dollar cost for Google (it’s a free product, after all) but it does limit Google’s ability to target ads to those users or push them to Google Search — an especially sore point because, just last month, the US Department of Justice banned Google from making any exclusive search deals.

Then, there’s how OpenAI handles it With search itself AI has already strained the web search model, showing processed information rather than content that can be advertised. But in an OpenAI livestream, Ben Goodger, head of engineering at Atlas (himself a central figure in the development of both Firefox and Chrome), described the new type of chat-oriented search as a paradigm shift.

“This new paradigm for research is really powerful,” Gudger said. “It’s a multi-turn experience. You can do that back and forth with your search results instead of just sending them to a web page.”

Of course, Google has done a lot to integrate AI into the regular search experience, but the company has mostly approached it the same way as product listings or reviews: by adding a box to the results page. But the kind of back-and-forth interaction that OpenAI offers goes beyond anything you can get on Chrome, and given its very different approach, it’s not something that can be easily copied. If OpenAI’s search interface proves popular, it could pose a serious threat to Google’s dominance.

Then there is the advertising question. OpenAI doesn’t offer ads at the moment, but was careful not to rule that out. The company has also been listing a lot of ad tech jobs recently, sparking speculation that an advertising pivot may be on the way. Using Atlas, ChatGPT can now collect context directly from a user’s browser window – providing a lot of extremely valuable data for ad targeting. It’s an unprecedented level of direct browser access: literally looking at the words that appear on your screen as you type them. After decades of privacy concerns, this is no longer the kind of sensitive information that users are likely to provide to Google or Meta.

It’s still early days for Atlas and a lot will depend on the product itself, and whether users really want what OpenAI has to offer here. But the company has charted a surprising business path here, one focused on user and revenue growth rather than vague ambitions around general artificial intelligence. As infrastructure experts ponder the $300 billion question of whether OpenAI’s revenue can live up to massive data center construction, products like Atlas may be the first place to look for an answer.