New AI-powered web browsers such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas and Perplexity’s Comet are trying to unseat Google Chrome as the front door to the internet for billions of users. A key selling point of these products are their web browsing AI agents, which promise to complete tasks on a user’s behalf by clicking around on websites and filling out forms.
But consumers may not be aware of the major risks to user privacy that come along with agentic browsing, a problem that the entire tech industry is trying to grapple with.
Cybersecurity experts who spoke to TechCrunch say AI browser agents pose a larger risk to user privacy compared to traditional browsers. They say consumers should consider how much access they give web browsing AI agents, and whether the purported benefits outweigh the risks.
To be most useful, AI browsers like Comet and ChatGPT Atlas ask for a significant level of access, including the ability to view and take action in a user’s email, calendar, and contact list. In TechCrunch’s testing, we’ve found that Comet and ChatGPT Atlas’ agents are moderately useful for simple tasks, especially when given broad access. However, the version of web browsing AI agents available today often struggle with more complicated tasks, and can take a long time to complete them. Using them can feel more like a neat party trick than a meaningful productivity booster.
Plus, all that access comes at a cost.
The main concern with AI browser agents is around “prompt injection attacks,” a vulnerability that can be exposed when bad actors hide malicious instructions on a webpage. If an agent analyzes that web page, it can be tricked into executing commands from an attacker.
Without sufficient safeguards, these attacks can lead browser agents to unintentionally expose user data, such as their emails or logins, or take malicious actions on behalf of a user, such as making unintended purchases or social media posts.
Prompt injection attacks are a phenomenon that has emerged in recent years alongside AI agents, and there’s not a clear solution to preventing them entirely. With OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT Atlas, it seems likely that more consumers than ever will soon try out an AI browser agent, and their security risks could soon become a bigger problem.
Brave, a privacy and security-focused browser company founded in 2016, released research this week determining that indirect prompt injection attacks are a “systemic challenge facing the entire category of AI-powered browsers.” Brave researchers previously identified this as a problem facing Perplexity’s Comet, but now say it’s a broader, industry-wide issue.
“There’s a huge opportunity here in terms of making life easier for users, but the browser is now doing things on your behalf,” said Shivan Sahib, a senior research & privacy engineer at Brave in an interview. “That is just fundamentally dangerous, and kind of a new line when it comes to browser security.”
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