OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser for macOS

OpenAI today released ChatGPT Atlas, describing it as a “browser with ChatGPT built into it.”

OpenAI Announce The launch took place in a blog post and live stream featuring CEO Sam Altman and team members including Ben Goodger, who previously helped develop Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

Atlas is now available on macOS worldwide for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users. Windows, iOS, and Android versions will be available soon.

What does ChatGPT Atlas do?

Unified New Tab experience

Opening a new tab creates a starting point where you can ask questions or enter URLs. Results appear with tabs to switch between links, photos, videos, and news where available.

OpenAI describes this as displaying faster and more useful results in one place. Tab-based navigation keeps ChatGPT answers and traditional search results in the same view.

ChatGPT sidebar

The ChatGPT sidebar appears in any browser window to summarize content, compare products, or analyze data from the page you’re viewing.

The sidebar provides help without leaving the current page.

Indicator

Chat with Cursor lets you highlight text in emails, calendar invitations, or documents and get ChatGPT help with one click.

This feature can retype selected text in a line without opening a separate chat window.

Proxy mode

Agent mode can open tabs and click on websites to complete tasks with user consent. OpenAI says it can search for products, book appointments, or organize tasks within your browser.

The company describes it as an early trial that may make mistakes in complex workflows, but quickly improves reliability and task success rates.

Browser memories

Browser memories allow ChatGPT to remember context from the sites you visit and retrieve relevant details when needed. This feature can continue product searches or create to-do lists of recent activities.

Browser memories are optional. You can view all memories in Settings, archive memories that are no longer relevant, and clear your browsing history to delete them.

A site-wide toggle in the address bar controls which pages ChatGPT can see.

Privacy controls

Users control what ChatGPT can see and remember. You can clear specific pages, clear your entire browsing history, or open an incognito window to temporarily log out of ChatGPT.

By default, OpenAI does not use browsing content to train models. You can opt in by enabling “Include web browsing” in your data control settings.

OpenAI has added safeguards for proxy mode. It cannot run code in your browser, download files, install extensions, or access other applications on your computer or file system. It pauses to ensure you can see when you take actions on sensitive sites such as financial institutions.

The company acknowledges that agents remain vulnerable to malicious instructions hidden in web pages or emails that can override intended behavior. OpenAI has put in thousands of hours of teamwork and designed protections to adapt to new attacks, but notes that safeguards won’t stop every attack.

Why is this important?

Atlas blurs the line between browser and search engine by placing ChatGPT responses alongside traditional search results in the same view. This changes the browsing model from “Visit the search engine and then go to the sites l’Ask questions and browse simultaneously.

This is important because it is another major platform where AI-generated answers appear before organic links.

Agent mode also introduces a new variant: artificial intelligence systems that can navigate between sites, fill out forms, and complete purchases on behalf of users without traditional click patterns.

Privacy controls around site visibility and browser memories create a permissions layer that doesn’t exist in traditional browsers. Sites you block from viewing ChatGPT will not contribute to AI responses or memories, which may impact how it detects and flags your content.

Looking forward

OpenAI is rolling out Atlas for macOS starting today. The first-run setting imports your bookmarks, saved passwords, and browsing history from your current browser.

Windows, iOS and Android versions are scheduled to launch in the coming months with no specific release dates.

The roadmap includes multi-profile support, enhanced developer tools, and guidelines for websites to add ARIA tags to help agents work better with their content.

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