ChatGPT's new browser has potential, if you're willing to pay

ChatGPT's new browser has potential, if you're willing to pay

2 days ago Share Save Imran Rahman-Jones Technology reporter Share Save

Getty Images OpenAI wants to take on similar browsers such as those from Microsoft, Oracle and Perplexity

A few minutes into using ChatGPT Atlas, the new internet browser from OpenAI, I ran into quite a big road block. This isn't like Google Chrome, which is used by roughly 60% of people. It's all built around a chatbot you're meant to talk to to surf the web. "Messages limit reached," read one note. "No available models support the tools in use," said another. And then: "You've hit the free plan limit for GPT-5." OpenAI says it will make using the internet easier and more efficient. A step closer to "a true super-assistant". But assistants, super or not, don't come free - and the company needs to start making a lot more money from its 800 million users.

So how helpful is it?

OpenAI says Atlas offers us an opportunity to "rethink what it means to use the web". It looks somewhat similar to Chrome or Apple's Safari to begin with, apart from the big difference - a sidebar chatbot.

ChatGPT On the BBC News website, for example, it suggests it could show me the trending stories, or filter stories according to my interests

On a train booking website, it offered to "highlight deals" or compare prices with other places. I asked it to book me a train, but was told this is only available for paying ChatGPT customers. Later, I tried something simpler: I asked it to take me to an article I was reading the other day, but couldn't quite remember what website it was on.

ChatGPT Atlas rapidly searched my browsing history and opened the page for me in a matter of seconds

These are early days, but there's potential for big changes in how we use the internet. What's clear is this will be a premium product which will only work to its full capacity if you pay a subscription fee. Given we are so used to browsing the internet for free, this would require a lot of people to alter their habits quite dramatically.

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