Google has a lot to worry about

OpenAI does not stop launching new products. After the virality of the Sora 2 videosa few hours ago they announced Atlas, the new browser with integrated ChatGPT that wants to change the way we navigate and represents a great threat to Google’s monopoly. I have been testing Atlas with the free version from ChatGPT and these are my impressions.

Goodbye Google, hello ChatGPT

The AI ​​is changing the way we browse the internet and Atlas is the most forceful step in this direction. As soon as you open the browser there is no trace of Google or a search engine, ChatGPT only. We can Google it, but it’s a bit hidden.

If, for example, we type “best movies”, we will see that a lot of suggestions appear to complete our search and At the bottom the option to search with Google. We can also type or paste a URL and the specific website will open, but the search takes center stage entirely from ChatGPT.

OpenAI doesn’t want you to search like you did until now, you want each tab to be a prompt to open the corresponding conversation with ChatGPT. Let’s see what he’s capable of.

Ask ChatGPT

One of the star functions is that, while we browse other pages, ChatGPT is always available from the button in the upper right corner. Pressing it opens a sidebar where we can consult details of the page we are visiting, such as giving us a summary or helping us better understand a concept.

This button is especially useful, for example, if we are making purchases. We can ask for specific details of a product and ChatGPT will give us the answer, understanding the context. For example, I want to buy an additional router to add to my mesh system, but I am not sure if this model will be compatible. No problem, I ask ChatGPT without even having to leave the page.

We can also ask other types of questions, such as whether a pair of shoes fits small and much more. On the website I was consulting there were no shoes in the size that ChatGPT was recommending, so I asked him to find that size for me in other stores.

He did, although the first time he suggested different models of Adidas Samba that were not that color. I had to specify that I wanted the “Black Green Leopard” model. He found them cheaper for me.

Another use case is preparing a trip. Although agent mode can help us book hotels and search for flights, it is only available in the Plus version. With the free version we can also take advantage of ChatGPT’s capabilities when searching for trips.

In my case, I have been looking at accommodation in Andorra for the December long weekend, but in view of the prices and low availability, I asked him to find other destinations that were close to Valencia by car. You can also ask them things like what places to visit or restaurants near the accommodation.

Memory and tab management

The ‘Ask ChatGPT’ button is fine, but beyond the fact that we have it more at hand, it is not far from what ChatGPT already does by itself. The really interesting thing is that the browser has memory, so we can go back to previous tabs just using natural text. No more browsing through history looking for that website we visited and whose name we don’t remember.

In the case of the sneakers, I didn’t even need to remember what the specific model was called, just by telling him that they were leopard he understood it. If you don’t give it enough information, it will ask you for more references such as the date you saw it or if you remember any images. I have tested it with more complicated examples, being less specific, and there have been a couple in which it has not been able to locate the page I asked for, but in general it works very well.

Perhaps the most useful use I have found for this memory is that we can ask it to open the tabs that we visited when we were doing research on a specific topic. I had to tell him twice, but I managed to get him to open all the websites he was visiting to prepare an article. It can also be useful if, for example, you were looking for computers a couple of weeks ago and you want to review all the models you consulted again.

Another practical use if you have digital Diogenes like me, is to ask it to “clean” the tabs you have open. I usually open a lot of tabs while I work and leave them there “just in case.” In the end I end up having dozens of tabs open, many of them unrelated to what I’m doing at that moment.

Writing these lines, I have asked him to close all the tabs that were not being useful to me at the moment. The result is that I have gone from almost twenty eyelashes to only six. The RAM memory of my computer has thanked it.

Of course, I have had some difficulties with this function and on several occasions it has gotten stuck or told me that it had closed the tabs when in reality they were still open. Yeah AI hallucinatesit is evident that browsers with AI are going to do it too.

And my privacy?

Default, ChatGPT sees everything we do in the browser. It’s great to summarize a page or clarify a concept, but perhaps we don’t want you to see sensitive content such as our password manager or our bank’s website.

So that ChatGPT cannot snoop based on which data, you must click on the icon on the left in the address bar and configure it manually. This way, although the ‘Ask ChatGPT’ button is still accessible, if we ask it something it will not be able to understand the context of the page. We also have the option of deactivate memories or use incognito mode if we do not want it to remember specific details of the places we visited.

Another aspect to take into account is that, by default, Atlas will use some data to train the model. The good news is that it can be disabled and does not include web history or voice mode recordings, although you can also share them if you want.

Atlas has room for improvement, but it’s already the biggest threat to Chrome’s dominance

I was already a user of Comet, the Perplexity browserso Atlas It didn’t seem like a revolution to me either.at least using the free version. With this I do not mean that it is not an interesting proposal, it is, but it is true that being familiar with another similar browser, I have not had the same ‘wow’ effect.

Just like Comet, has a learning curve, especially when it comes to distinguishing between using ChatGPT, searching on Google or going to a URL. Obviously the goal of Atlas is for you to always talk to ChatGPT and it does this very well. Many times when I wanted to see Google results I have ended up talking to the chatbot because the option appears last.

Having ChatGPT at hand on any page is very useful and in the hours that I have been testing it, it has worked quite well for me when it comes to understanding the context, especially when I have asked it to search for tabs that I have visited. However, ChatGPT is often misleading and is not 100% reliable. By extension, neither is Atlas. For example, when I have asked him about router compatibility he has not been able to provide me with any links to back up his claims.

Taking into account the limitations, Atlas is a very complete browser even in its free version and has the enormous advantage that its AI has the largest user base on the market. Many people already use ChatGPT as if it were a search engine and we have already seen that ChatGPT Search was a big problem for Google. Let ChatGPT become a browser Further raises threat to Google Chrome’s dominance. In addition, the browser is based on Chromium, so we can install all the extensions we have in Chrome without problem.

Google has already taken steps to integrate AI into its search with AI Overview and recently They integrated Gemini into Chromebut if you don’t hurry to take it to everyone, OpenAI is going to overtake you on the right. What is clear is that it is Atlas, Comet or the future Chrome, Navigation is about to change forever.

Images | Amparo Babiloni, Xataka

In Xataka | AI browsers have a problem: that anyone who knows how to write will be able to hack them