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OpenAI introduced its own web browser, Atlas, this week as more internet users are relying on artificial intelligence to answer their questions. Here’s what to know about the browser, and other latest initiatives from the world’s most valuable startup: OpenAI Atlas browser Big picture view: OpenAI’s Atlas is a browser with ChatGPT built in. OpenAI describes it as having "a true super-assistance" built in, that helps you understand what you’re reading and searching for and achieve your goals. Dig deeper: The browser launched Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s iOS phone operating system and Google’s Android phone system. What they're saying: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one." Altman said he expects a chatbot interface to replace a traditional browser’s URL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future. "Tabs were great, but we haven’t seen a lot of browser innovation since then," he said on a video presentation aired Tuesday. A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an "agent mode" that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person’s behalf, armed with a users’ browser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining its process as it searches. "It’s using the internet for you," Altman said. Why it matters: The browser puts the San Francisco-based company in direct competition with Google, as it looks for better ways to finally turn a profit and claim its stake among the tech giants of today. OpenAI launched its social media video app Sora a few weeks ago, an attempt to draw the attention of eyeballs currently staring at short-form videos on TikTok, YouTube or Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook. By the numbers: Atlas will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users since its launch in 2008 and has been adding some AI features from Google’s Gemini technology. OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free. RELATED: Michigan woman uses ChatGPT to pick winning lottery numbers What is Sora? Big picture view: Sora is OpenAI’s social media app made up of videos generated by artificial intelligence. It’s only available right now on Apple devices in the U.S. and Canada. The app taps into the appeal of being able to make a video of yourself doing just about anything that can be imagined, in styles ranging from anime to highly realistic. Dig deeper: Meta also launched its own feed of AI short-form videos within its Meta AI app last month, Vibes. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a carousel of AI videos, including a cartoon version of himself, an army of fuzzy, beady-eyed beings jumping around and a kitten kneading a ball of dough. The other side: A scrolling flood of such videos taking over social media has some worried about "AI slop" that crowds out more authentic human creativity and degrades the information ecosystem. RELATED: Walmart will allow customers to use ChatGPT to shop Shopping with ChatGPT Big picture view: ChatGPT users can now buy directly from Etsy sellers while interacting with the chatbot and will soon be able to do the same with Shopify sellers. Competing with the likes of Amazon and Google for purchase fees from digital shopping could be a new source of money for OpenAI.
