ChatGPT's new browser has potential, if you're willing to pay A few minutes into using ChatGPT Atlas, the new internet browser from OpenAI, I ran into quite a big road block. This isn't like Google Chrome, which is used by roughly 60% of people. It's all built around a chatbot you're meant to talk to to surf the web. Messages limit reached, read one note. No available models support the tools in use, said another.

OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome's dominance. OpenAI on Tuesday unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome's dominance. The launch marks OpenAI's latest move to capitalize on 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, as it expands into more aspects of users' online lives by collecting data about consumers' browser behavior. It could accelerate a broader shift toward AI-driven search, as users increasingly turn to conversational tools that synthesize information instead of relying on traditional keyword-based results from Google -- intensifying competition between OpenAI and Google. Shares of Alphabet, which owns the Chrome browser, were down 1.8% in afternoon trading.

OpenAI's Atlas Browser Takes Direct Aim at Google Chrome The new ChatGPT-powered web browser is OpenAI's boldest play yet to reinvent how people use the web. OpenAI announced on Tuesday it's rolling out a new internet browser called Atlas that integrates directly with ChatGPT . Atlas includes features like a sidebar window people can use to ask ChatGPT questions about the web pages they visit. "We think that AI represents a rare, once a decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during a livestream announcing Atlas. "Tabs were great, but we haven't seen a lot of browser innovation since then."

I spent quality time with the HyperSpace Trackpad Pro, which attempts to bring Apple's Magic Trackpad experience to Windows. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Apple was the first to truly popularize the touchpad (or trackpad, as Apple calls it), and most importantly, make it good. Over the years, the company enhanced the experience with a handful of features, such as multi-finger gestures or haptic feedback.

If you're concerned that your favorite may be subsumed by the growing wave of AI, Vivaldi would like you to know they plan to resist. Vivaldi, the small Norwegian-made browser which I use as an alternative to more mainstream browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, said it plans to "choose humans over hype," in the words of Jon von Tetzchner, the company's chief executive. "We're taking a stand, choosing humans over hype, and we will not turn the joy of exploring into inactive spectatorship," von Tetzchner said in a statement, shared by the company. "Without exploration, the web becomes far less interesting. Our curiosity loses oxygen and the diversity of the web dies."

Google's dominance of the search engine and online advertising market has come under intense scrutiny, with the technology giant embroiled in years of legal wrangling as part of two antitrust cases. A US federal judge is expected to issue a ruling this month that could see Google being ordered to break up its search business. The company has said it would appeal such a ruling, saying the idea of spinning off Chrome was an "unprecedented proposal" that would harm consumers and security. A spokesman for Perplexity told the BBC that its bid marks an "important commitment to the open web, user choice, and continuity for everyone who has chosen Chrome." As part of the proposed takeover, Perplexity said it would continue to have Google as the default search engine within Chrome, though users could adjust their settings.

Perplexity AI said it has made a 34.5bn unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet's Google Chrome browser. The deal, if Alphabet agreed to it, would also require financing above the startup's most recently reported valuation of 18bn. The nearly three-year-old startup's purchase of Chrome, if approved, would give the company access to its more than three billion users as regulatory pressure weighs on Google's control over the tech industry. Perplexity did not disclose on Tuesday how it plans to fund the offer, but has raised 1bn in funding from investors including SoftBank and the semiconductor chip giant Nvidia. Several funds have said they would finance the deal in full if Alphabet accepts, the Reuters news agency reported citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

As a federal antitrust investigation into Google's Chrome browser wraps up, rivals are striking: Perplexity has launched an unsolicited bid to buy Chrome for a whopping 34.5 billion, according to reports. Bloomberg reported the proposed deal, confirmed by a Perplexity representative, as did The Wall Street Journal. But there's a hitch: Perplexity doesn't have 34.5 billion to fund the deal with. In fact, the WSJ estimates its own valuation at just 18 billion. This means Perplexity would have to come up with another source of cash, and it appears that it has done just that.

Google has released Chrome 138, the latest edition of the browser that fixes several vulnerabilities, now in versions 138.0.7204.49/50 According to Google, none of the vulnerabilities have been exploited in the wild yet. On the "What's New" page in Chrome, Google advertises the ability to use tab groups on the go. With Chrome, you can now synchronize not only passwords but also tab groups between your desktop and mobile devices. Google is also raising awareness of Chrome's ability to search, select, and copy text in scanned PDF documents, but Google doesn't mention that this first requires text recognition (OCR) and whether this takes place locally or in the cloud.

Part of the reason Google decided to start developing its own Chrome browser--all the way back in 2008--was to funnel people toward all of its web apps, from Google Docs to Gmail to Google Maps. And of course, Chrome has Google's search engine built right in. However, if you love Google Chrome but you've decided you've had enough of Google search, you can change the default search engine in the browser. You can switch to Bing, DuckDuckGo, or whichever alternative search engine you like. Maybe you feel you've spent enough of your life scrolling through Google's sponsored links, or perhaps you'd rather use a search engine without any AI in it.