The vibe coding battle seems to be concluding as companies race to build AI browsers. OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a standalone web browser that integrates its AI chatbot into the browsing experience.
With this move, OpenAI has positioned itself as a formidable competitor to established browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, Brave, and Perplexity’s Comet. ChatGPT Atlas is a wrapper of Chromium. “ChatGPT Atlas is built on Chromium, which means you can use all Chrome extensions in Atlas,” wrote YouTuber, investor, and founder of Forward Future Matthew Berman in a post on X.
Another user on X pointed out that Google has, in some ways, “open sourced its own obsolescence twice.” The first instance was with Chromium, and the second with the publication of “Attention Is All You Need.” The user added that while both moves were intended as displays of dominance, they “ended up being open source trojan horses for competitors.”
What’s So Special about Atlas
ChatGPT Atlas offers a range of features that set it apart from conventional browsers. One of its key strengths is context-aware assistance, which allows the AI to understand the content of the current webpage, open tabs, and user preferences.
Users can also receive real-time writing support across different platforms, including emails, documents, and social media interfaces, making it easier to draft content without leaving the browser. The browser also supports ChatGPT’s memory feature, which allows it to recall information from previous chats and browsing activity to provide more relevant assistance
AIM tested it out and discovered that for users to move to ChatGPT Atlas from Chrome may not require much learning or time, as the interface is quite similar to what they have been accustomed to. As of 2025, Google Chrome has approximately 3.8 billion active users worldwide, holding over 68% of the global browser market share across all platforms.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO of GreyHound Research, said that ChatGPT Atlas is “designed to coexist within the very habits that Chrome users have built over the past decade.” In his view, the browser appeals precisely because it doesn’t require behavioural changes. For those embedded in Google’s ecosystem, Gogia said, the promise of Atlas lies in continuity, offering multi-tabbed browsing, real-time summarisation, and document interaction without departing from Chrome-like ergonomics.
Atlas doesn’t want to ‘replace’ your browser so much as redefine what you expect from one, Anand Jain, co-founder and chief marketing officer at CleverTap, told AIM. He added that Atlas can absolutely work alongside Chrome, Safari or Firefox. “In fact, that’s how most people will likely use it for a while,” he said.
Will Browsers Co-exist?
Gogia said that Atlas is not intended to supplant existing browsers outright but to act as a semantic overlay on top of the web as we know it. He added that the architecture suggests a long coexistence phase rather than a displacement war. “Enterprises and individuals are unlikely to abandon Chrome or Edge completely; what they will do is segment usage.”
Atlas is meant to be a ‘task browser’ for things like research, writing, and automated work, he said.
Meanwhile, Jain suggested that for certain tasks such as research, shopping, comparisons, and multi-step workflows, Atlas has the potential to replace traditional browsing entirely. “If you’re the kind of user who keeps fifty tabs open just to find one answer, this might finally be the browser that cleans up after you.”
In the short term, coexistence with conventional browsers will likely continue, but once users experience how agentic browsing can handle the repetitive parts of online life, Atlas and other AI-powered browsers like Comet will take on more of the heavy lifting.
Eventually, the line between traditional and AI-assisted browsing may blur entirely, and what we call “AI-powered browsing” today might simply become browsing itself.
How AI Browsers Could Affect Advertising
Sanya Ojha, partner at Bain Capital Ventures, in a LinkedIn post, wrote that the browser has long been “the front door to the internet—and, for Google, the key to its kingdom.” She added that Chrome continues to dominate global market share, collecting user data for ad targeting and channeling traffic into Search, Google’s core profit engine.
Just weeks ago, Google integrated Gemini directly into Chrome, merging its AI assistant into the browsing layer itself. Ojha said that now, OpenAI is vying for a share of that same gateway. She summed it up, “It’s an all-out race for the interface of intent.”
Similarly, Jain believes that Atlas might change how the advertising industry works. He said that search and ads are built on one simple behaviour, with users typing queries and clicking results. If that starting point moves from a search bar to a conversational interface, the whole value chain tilts a little.
“With Atlas or Comet, discovery happens inside an assistant rather than through a search engine. That means fewer page visits, fewer ad impressions, and a different kind of data trail,” he said. “The browser becomes the decision layer, not just the viewing layer, and whoever controls that layer controls what gets seen, clicked, or bought.”
Browsing Wars
ChatGPT Atlas joins the likes of Comet and Opera Neon. Comet, developed by Perplexity AI, functions as an AI-driven personal assistant capable of automating tasks, summarising content, and managing emails and calendars. The company recently announced that Comet is free for all and available worldwide.
Comet also offers the agentic capabilities to its users for free, while agent mode in Atlas is only available in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business users.
Comet offers a ‘Background Assistant’ for Pro and Max subscribers, providing deeper integration into the workflow. Like Atlas, it is built on the Chromium framework, making it compatible with popular browser extensions.
Brave also launched Leo AI in its browser, which focuses on privacy and anonymity while providing in-browser support, including translation and content summarisation and generation, all without the need for sign-ins. The company has recently been mentioning that ChatGPT Atlas, and Perplexity AI’s Comet, might not be safe for users, citing threats like indirect prompt injections.
On the other hand, Opera’s Neon can handle tasks like shopping, booking trips, managing forms, and gathering information on its own within your browser. It runs locally on your PC, using the web page structure to interact with sites, which keeps your data private. You can see and control everything it does in real time.
Opera’s AI suite offers multiple tools for smarter browsing. Neon Chat provides conversational AI, Neon Make lets users automatically create content such as websites, videos, apps, and games. ODRA, Opera’s deep research agent, helps with analysing information across multiple steps and models and producing detailed summaries.
As AI browsers evolve, the true battle may not be about speed or features, but about shaping how we think, decide, and interact online. Whoever controls the interface of intent could redefine the very way the internet guides our choices.
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