OpenAI's Atlas Wants to Be the Web’s Tour Guide. I’m Not Convinced It Needs One

OpenAI’s recently launched Atlas browser is a fascinating inversion of what users may expect from a browser, centering AI answers above traditional web links. Every click in a regular browser is a chance to see a new part of the web. Every click in Atlas is a chance to use ChatGPT.

Just typed a question into the address bar? That’s now a ChatGPT query. Want help contextualizing a web page? The Ask ChatGPT sidebar can see and analyze what’s on your screen. Want someone to buy your Halloween costume? The “agent mode” can click around on Amazon and throw some vampire fangs into your cart.

Ryan O’Rouke, OpenAI’s lead designer for the browser, demonstrated the Ask ChatGPT feature during the livestream announcement of Atlas. He asked it to summarize GitHub code appearing on the web page in his browser. He called it ...