OpenAI, the company behind artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, is gearing up to launch its own web browser that could rival Google Chrome, Perplexity, and others, according to a report.
The browser, slated to launch in the coming weeks, will heavily integrate AI to give users a more personalized experience with a direct chat-like feature and an agent to assist in filling out forms, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
This means users will not have to click through as many webpages for answers and could utilize the company’s AI agent, known as Operator, to complete tasks on their behalf, such as filling out forms or reserving a table at a restaurant.
In return, OpenAI will have more direct access to user data – the key component that has led to Google’s massive success with Chrome.
OpenAI declined to comment to The Independent.
The company’s browser was reportedly built using Google’s open-source code called Chromium. Other browsers have also been built on the code, such as Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera.
Chrome is, by far, the most used browser worldwide, with 68 percent market share, according to StatCounter. Apple’s Safari comes in second with roughly 16 percent market share.
However, if all 500 million weekly ChatGPT users were to switch to OpenAI’s browser, it could create competition for Chrome, which has been so successful that federal courts have ordered Google to sell off its ad money-making machine.
Building a browser, rather than creating a browser extension, will allow OpenAI more control over the data it can collect, which can improve the AI agent’s ability to assist users.
Many AI users may find the news exciting with the prospect that an AI browser could save time by quickly scouring the internet, filling out forms, making appointments or reservations, and more. Online shopping could become a streamlined process if the browser functions the way some are predicting.
But the AI browser is also likely to stir controversy, especially with those who already fear that the growing technology is encouraging people to be lazy and not utilize their cognitive skills.
A recent study, from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University, found that AI can “inhibit critical engagement” and thinking at work. Researchers raised concerns that it could “potentially lead to long-term overreliance on the tool.” As a result, people become less independent problem-solvers.
