By Bloomberg News
Publication Date: 2025-12-08 13:41:00
When OpenAI unveiled an artificial intelligence-based browser in October, Alphabet Inc. investors expressed concern about what it would mean for Google Chrome, the ubiquitous gateway to the internet used by billions globally.
And yet, current versions of AI browsers are far from making legacy products like Chrome obsolete: New offerings from companies such as OpenAI and Perplexity AI Inc. present occasional bugs and trip over some seemingly straightforward requests, Bloomberg News found after testing them for a month.
The new browsers, including OpenAI’s Atlas and Comet from Perplexity, put artificial intelligence assistants front and center, replacing search engines as the preset option when users enter requests. Many also offer a feature called agentic browsing, enabling them to carry out multi-step tasks on behalf of users, like completing shopping orders and extracting a list of to-dos from unread emails.
The goal, as AI developers see it, is for consumers to use their chatbots not just from their own apps or websites, but within browsers and mobile operating systems, potentially opening more avenues for ad targeting and revenue streams. The most advanced features are currently only available on a paid tier, given that AI agent features can be more expensive to run.
For now, the two categories of browsers are encouraging different kinds of user behavior, forcing app developers, web services and publishers to rethink whether they’re designing their tools for…
