Atlas is being introduced at a time when OpenAI is actively seeking new ways to monetize its developments in artificial intelligence and aims to capitalize on the growing user audience.
Among the new features, Atlas will include a paid agent mode that will be able to independently perform search queries for ChatGPT users. This option will only be available to subscribers of the paid plan. The agent mode will leverage the chatbot's capabilities for "enhancements that make it faster and more useful by interacting with the context of your browser."
At the OpenAI DevDay event earlier this month, Altman reported that according to the company Demandsage, the number of active ChatGPT users has reached 800 million, which is double the figure from February.
Pat Moorhead, CEO and Chief Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, noted that initial interest in OpenAI's new browser will likely come from early adopters, but he doubts that Atlas will pose a real competition to Chrome or Microsoft Edge. In his opinion, most users, both individual and corporate, will wait for their favorite browsers to offer similar features.
According to Moorhead, Microsoft Edge already provides many capabilities similar to those offered by Atlas.
The development by OpenAI was announced a year after Google was declared an illegal monopolist in the online search sector. The recent court ruling did not indicate the necessity to separate Chrome into a distinct legal entity, as demanded by lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to research firm Datos, as of July, 5.99% of search queries in desktop browsers were attributed to large language models (LLMs), which is more than double the figure from the previous year.
Google is also actively advancing its initiatives in artificial intelligence and is focusing on AI-generated responses in search results.
