ChatGPT Atlas browser puts AI right where you need it, but can you trust it?

OpenAI on Tuesday released its ChatGPT Atlas browser for Mac, which makes it easy to use an AI chatbot wherever you are online. When you use a free browser to visit a website, you can use ChatGPT’s knowledge to provide more information about what’s on the page.

For example, after finding the best Airbnb listing in a certain location, you can ask ChatGPT for the best hikes in the area, or tell the chatbot to build an itinerary for a three-day trip—right in your browser. The agent mode available to paid ChatGPT users can go even further.

But while OpenAI says it has built-in safeguards to mitigate the dangers of having AI act for you on signed-in sites, the company admits that using agent mode comes with risks. And there’s still the common AI problem, hallucinations.

ChatGPT Atlas adds AI to your web browsing

Artificial intelligence is the hot new thing in technology and search, so much so that Cupertino even baked ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. But the web browser remains a central part of everyone’s online experience. Using ChatGPT or other AI chatbots in tandem with a browser such as Safari requires copying and pasting information from the websites you visit into your AI application of choice.

ChatGPT Atlas removes this friction and lets you deploy your popular OpenAI chatbot right in your browser.

“We think artificial intelligence presents a rare once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use it, and how to use the web in the most productive and enjoyable way possible,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a video introducing the ChatGPT Atlas. “The cards were great, but we haven’t seen a lot of browser innovation since then, so we were very excited about the opportunity to really rethink what it could be.”

OpenAI wants to put AI everywhere, not just in ChatGPT. (The company is even working with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on an AI-powered device, you’ll recall.) Putting AI right in the web browser seems like a logical place to start.

ChatGPT Atlas and Memory Browser

Open a new page in the ChatGPT Atlas browser and you’ll see a minimalistic Google home-like experience with ChatGPT’s familiar “Ask Anything” search prompt. You can ask ChatGPT a question or enter a URL.

Ask and ChatGPT’s chat results will give you the information you want – although, as with all ChatGPT queries, you should verify the information before accepting it as gospel. After each search, separate icons for search, images, videos and messages will appear. A ChatGPT sidebar is displayed when you visit a website, although you can turn this feature off if you prefer.

The feature, called “browser memories,” “remembers key details from the content you view to improve chat responses and offer smarter suggestions — like creating a to-do list from your recent activity or continuing your Christmas gift research based on the products you’ve viewed,” Open AI said in a Tuesday press release announcing the new ChatGPT Atlas browser.

Your search queries sync with the ChatGPT Mac app, but OpenAI says they’re “private to your ChatGPT account and under your control.”

“You can view them all in settings, archive those that are no longer relevant, and clear your browsing history to delete them,” the company said. “Even when browser memories are turned on, you can decide which pages ChatGPT can or cannot see using a switch in the address bar. When visibility is turned off, ChatGPT cannot display page content and no memories are created from it.”

OpenAI says that by default it doesn’t use your search history to train its AI models, though you can opt in. The same goes for your ChatGPT chats.

Dangers of using agent mode

OpenAI says it “prioritized security” when creating the ChatGPT agent mode for the Atlas browser, adding “security measures to address new risks that may come from accessing signed-in pages and browsing history while taking actions on your behalf.”

ChatGPT Atlas can’t access other apps on your Mac or run code in a browser, download files or install extensions, OpenAI said. The company also said Agent Mode will “pause to make sure you’re watching it take actions on specific sensitive sites like financial institutions.” Additionally, there’s an opt-out mode that limits “the AI ​​agent’s access to sensitive data and the risk of it taking actions like you on the website.”

Still, the company makes it clear that using “ChatGPT agent capabilities still carries risk.”

“In addition to agents simply making mistakes when acting on your behalf, they are susceptible to hidden malicious instructions that can be hidden in places like a website or email, with the intention of the instructions overriding the intended behavior of the ChatGPT agent,” the company said. “This could lead to data theft from sites you’re logged in to or actions you didn’t intend.”

Atlas’ Agent Mode is available in Preview to Plus, Pro, and Business users who pay ChatGPT subscription fees starting at $20 per month.

However, as with all things AI, there’s a buyer beware: “It’s a first-time experience and can make mistakes in complex workflows,” OpenAI said. “We are rapidly improving the reliability, latency and success of complex tasks.”

How to get the ChatGPT Atlas browser

As you can imagine, you need a ChatGPT account to use ChatGPT Atlas. The browser is now available for download worldwide on macOS for OpenAI Free, Plus, Pro and Go users. (It’s available in beta for Business, Enterprise, and Edu users if plan administrators allow it.) Versions for iOS, Windows, and Android will be available soon, OpenAI said.

Download from: OpenAI

Check out the reveal/demo video