ChatGPT Atlas and the "AI Browser War" That Isn't
- Vincent Grippi
- Oct 31
- 6 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Last week, OpenAI finally launched its long-rumored browser, ChatGPT Atlas.
Some say it’ll change how we interact with the web forever, just like the Metaverse was supposed to. Others think it’s mostly useless… like the Metaverse turned out to be.
But the loudest headline by far is that Atlas marks the beginning of the so-called “AI Browser War.”
Or does it?
Let's break down what ChatGPT Atlas actually is, what makes it interesting, and why there will be no blood…or war, for that matter.
What is ChatGPT Atlas?
OpenAI positions Atlas as “a browser with ChatGPT at its core” - and while that’s technically accurate, it feels more like a Google Chrome wrapper with ChatGPT stapled on.
Afterall, Atlas is built on Google's Chromium chassis, the same framework beneath Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Perplexit's AI-powered browser, Comet.
But that’s not all Atlas has in common with Google. Its web search feature uses Google as its default search engine. That’s like throwing a party and telling everyone to check out a cooler one down the street.
Ok, so the actual search functionality and underpinnings of Atlas aren’t anything new. But when you use ChatGPT within Atlas, that’s where things get really interesting…
Just kidding, it’s literally ChatGPT.
You ask it questions, it gives you answers, sometimes it’s right and a lot of times it’s not - either way, it delivers with unbridled confidence.
What Makes Atlas Different?
So, what’s actually different about Atlas then? Its standout feature is Agent Mode, which allows ChatGPT to take actions within the browser on your behalf. It can help you book flights, go grocery shopping or slide into your ex’s DMs at 3 in the morning.
Atlas also has “memories” built in, which means it can draw from past chats and select browser activity to serve as a personalized assistant for scrolling the web. For example, you can ask it to recall every recipe you browsed last week and recommend something spicy. Considering ChatGPT now supports erotica, it might be best to avoid asking it for anything “spicy” altogether.
Isn’t it funny how Big Tech always uses soft language when it comes to data collection? “Cookies” and “memories,” sound so cute and harmless....It’s like calling stalking “admiration from a distance.”
ChatGPT Atlas Raises Security Concerns
Unsurprisingly, ChatGPT Atlas is raising a bunch of security concerns.
Because “memories” recall your activity across sites, it builds a pretty detailed profile of you using your habits and preferences. That means your data is being tracked, stored, and potentially exposed. Giving an AI-powered browser this degree of information could make you a target for bad actors.
And boy, is the internet just full of ‘em!
Another major concern is prompt injection, which is a concern shared by all AI browser agents in general. Prompt injection is when someone hides sneaky text or code on a webpage that tricks an LLM into doing something it shouldn’t. For example, a prompt injection could secretly trick an AI agent to share the username and password used by a visitor on a login page.
This is sort of like the early days of SEO, when black-hat marketers would hide keywords on a page by matching their text color to the background color. Real mustache-twirling, evil genius stuff!
While there’s currently no fool-proof solution for prompt injections yet, Atlas does allow users to turn off “memories” and leave their agents logged out of online accounts. However, doing so hampers both personalization and agent mode.
Why Should Marketers Care About ChatGPT Atlas?
Aside from the constant SEO concern of losing search traffic to AI-generated summaries of your content, marketers will now need to account for Agent Mode activity on their website. These agents browse sites, click links, and even fill out forms on behalf of users, creating engagement that looks real but doesn’t necessarily reflect human intent. As a result, analytics can become harder to trust and attribution can be sullied.
What’s also significant is that Atlas offers a wide-scale glimpse of the personalized web. That means a future where much of the internet is streamlined and tailored to each user’s preferences, habits, and history. This could lead to people only seeing content they favor, from sources they favor, and overall depth of engagement or time spent on websites could drop significantly.
And no doubt, with the rise of the personalized web will come personalized ads, built around ChatGPT’s “memories” of you.
The personalized web can be the next major frontier. But will Atlas be the one planting the flag? I highly doubt it.
Tough Competition for ChatGPT Atlas
We already pointed out that ChatGPT Atlas is built on Google Chromium and that it uses Google for search.
Google dominates the browser space, with a comfortable 71.77% share of the market.
For context, Android controls north of 70% of the global smartphone market and Chrome comes stock on all Android devices.
Apple iPhones, on the other hand, come stock with Safari. Yet, Chrome is actually the most popular browser among iOS users, with 44% using it compared to Safari’s 33%. Not only does Chrome dominate market share, but it commands loyalty.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT is having a hard time getting a significant percentage of its users to pay for its service and overall usage is showing signs of dipping, especially in Europe. OpenAI will face a tough (and expensive) battle if it wants to hack away at Chrome.
As for search, Google’s grip is even tighter, commanding roughly 90% of the global search engine market.
According to a report from SparkToro, in 2024, Google had more than 14 billion searches per day. At best, ChatGPT had just 37.5 million. That means Google processed 373 times more searches. In 2025, it’s projected that ChatGPT has less than 1% of the search market.
Again, tough fight to pick if you’re OpenAI - and I’m sure making Google the default search engine in Atlas isn’t helping them gain any ground.
It's Always Been About Data
At this point, you have to ask: why a standalone browser?
Why wouldn’t OpenAI just include an in-app browser within ChatGPT - like Instagram or X? It could easily complement its native search functionality. Instead, it built an entirely new browser on Google’s framework that still pushes Google’s search engine.
The answer is simple: to collect data.
OpenAI’s mounting scramble for profitability (and diversified monetization strategies) led to them hiring Fidji Simo back in May. The TL;DR biopic on her Simo is that she helped build Facebook's ad business and scale Instacart's retail media network.
She’s all about the advertising business...and OpenAI will be too.
Afterall, what better way to capitalize on all that browser data than with ads, right? It works like a charm for Google. Speaking of which, Google is a top dog in the digital advertising market too.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, generated over $75 billion in ad revenue from Google and YouTube in Q1 2025. Its AI search “competitor,” Perplexity generated only $20,000 in ad revenue for all of 2024. The underperformance is so bad, not even Viagra’s entire ad budget could lift it.
Sure, ChatGPT has a much larger user base than Perplexity, so it stands to earn more from ads… and frankly, it’ll need to.
But will that be enough to get marketers to spend with them? So far, studies show sales from ChatGPT referral traffic lags far behind almost all traditional digital channels - not super encouraging.
The AI Browser War That Never Was
Google’s massive infrastructure, resources, and overall dominance across search, browsers, and digital advertising makes it an unstoppable force next to OpenAI.
As it stands today, OpenAI can only hope to earn a piece of the pie in any of those categories.
Competition is healthy, but given how much money OpenAI burns, that piece will need to be substantial, because it’s not making enough elsewhere to stay afloat.
Make no mistake: there’s no “AI Browser War.”
What makes Atlas significant, for both marketers and users, is that it signals where Google is likely headed. Soon, Google will integrate the same AI capabilities into Chrome and its advertising engine, and when that happens, well…game over.
Comments