Hey there,

If you’re anything like me, your browser is a chaotic mess of dozens of tabs, with ideas and projects all mashed together. You end up with too many open websites and quickly forget their importance. OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Atlas solves this problem by merging the typical browsing experience with the ease and power of ChatGPT. This week, we’ll breakdown its core features, from Agent mode to its unique browsing experience. 

What is ChatGPT Atlas?

ChatGPT Atlas is OpenAI’s new AI-powered browsing experience that allows you to explore the web with ChatGPT. Atlas can also perform actions for you and act as your personal web assistant. 

Browsing in Atlas:

At its core, Atlas takes the ease of chatting with an AI and combines it with the daily task of searching the internet. By merging these experiences, users are able to seamlessly switch between traditional internet browsing and asking ChatGPT questions about what they are seeing or to expand on the topics mentioned on a site. This eliminates the need for constant copy and pasting. It also makes every source and web search more impactful because it can be the start of a conversation if needed. For example, after searching for restaurants in Rome, I could simply ask Atlas to identify which ones take reservations. 

You can communicate with ChatGPT by either highlighting a section of text or by clicking “Ask ChatGPT” in the upper right corner. 

ChatGPT Atlas also uses your search history and “Memories” to help make your browsing experience more personalized. Separate from your search history, Memories are specific facts that ChatGPT remembers while you browse. These can be both actions you perform or facts that you share with it. For example, you could tell it “I’m allergic to nuts” and it would keep that in mind for future shopping or recipe searches. 

Agent Mode:

The next major feature of ChatGPT Atlas is the agent mode. This setting allows ChatGPT to complete tasks for you on the internet. Anything from helping you shop for groceries to finding the best priced tickets for vacation. AI tools are often described as “personal assistants” but most lack the ability to truly operate independently from us. Agent mode is OpenAI’s latest attempt to push the boundaries of how AI can help make our daily lives easier. 

ChatGPT Atlas is even able to find and add common beach items to the cart for me. 

The Big Questions: Privacy and Security

When looking at browsing and AI tools, people have a range of opinions about how their data is being used and the security of their tool. 

Privacy & Data:

Like many browsers, ChatGPT Atlas uses your data to customize the browsing experience. This mostly revolves around memories and chat history. You have total control over both of these and can delete any and all data in your settings. By default, OpenAI doesn’t train their models based on your browsing activity but users can opt-in if interested. 

For some this is a great trade-off for the power that Atlas offers. Others have voiced their concerns about the depth of the profile that OpenAI can build based on a combination of your browsing and chat history. 

Security:

AI browsers are still a new concept which means not all the dangers have been addressed. As I mentioned earlier, Agent Mode can complete tasks for you and act independently while browsing the web on your behalf. This has led to concerns about malicious attacks mainly in the form of prompt injection. They could potentially gain access to your data or cause Atlas to take harmful actions.

OpenAI explained that they understand these risks and have taken steps to limit this form of attack. They’ve done this by not allowing Atlas to access your files, download files, and more. 

How to Access ChatGPT Atlas

ChatGPT Atlas is rolling out gradually and is only available to certain groups at launch. Currently only Mac users can download it. OpenAI has confirmed that "experiences for Windows, iOS, and Android are coming soon.” 

• ChatGPT Atlas: Is available for all Free, Plus, and Pro plans. It can also be enabled for Business, Enterprise, and Edu users.

• Agent Mode: Currently only paid plans (Plus, Pro, and Business) can activate the preview version of agent mode. 

My Thoughts: 

My take is this: ChatGPT Atlas is an exciting new tool that blurs the line between browsing and a chatbot. As a browsing tool, it’s a remarkable step forward. The way it seamlessly blends the natural experience of browsing with the now-familiar power of ChatGPT means Atlas will be a permanent addition to my tech stack. However, the security questions around Agent mode are still too significant to ignore. I don’t see myself allowing ChatGPT to freely browse the internet until OpenAI can address the potential for prompt attacks.