OpenAI is said to be almost ready to unleash its own web browser, which could be out in the wild within weeks. According to Reuters sources, the company is aiming to more deeply integrate its services into users’ work and personal lives, and the browser is part of that strategy (as is its push into hardware). Naturally, the browser is slated to have a ChatGPT-style chatbot baked in.
OpenAI is reportedly looking to use the browser to capture more user data — a strategy that has worked out to Google’s benefit with Chrome. The browser is also expected to have agentic AI features such as Operator, which are billed as tools that can carry out actions (such as booking reservations) on a user’s behalf. Having direct access to information like web browsing data may make it easier for OpenAI to pull that off.
The browser is said to be designed to keep many interactions within an AI chatbot interface rather than directing users to websites. As with Google’s AI Overviews, this could dissuade people from clicking through to the sources of information that the likes of ChatGPT rely on, potentially depriving website operators of valuable traffic.
If OpenAI does start offering users access to its own browser, it would be following Perplexity, which released a browser with agentic AI functions on Wednesday. That browser, Comet, is currently only available to those with a $200 per month Perplexity Max subscription. Opera also released a “fully agentic” browser back in May.
While ChatGPT has more than 500 million weekly active users that OpenAI can market Its browser to, the company will face a tough battle if it truly wants to challenge Chrome, which is estimated to have more than 3 billion users. As it happens, OpenAI’s browser is reportedly built on Chromium, Google’s open-source code on which Chrome, Comet, Microsoft Edge and Opera run. Reports last year suggested that OpenAI may build its own browser after hiring two former Google execs who helped create Chrome.
Google has long tapped into data garnered through Chrome to help with ad targeting. However, the Department of Justice late last year said it wanted Google to sell off Chrome. A judge ruled earlier in 2024 that Google was a “monopolist” in the search sector and that it violated the Sherman Act (Google plans to appeal the ruling). OpenAI has said that were Google forced to sell off Chrome, it would be interested in snapping up the world’s most popular browser.
