This is the latest move from the ChatGPT maker to capitalise on its 800 million weekly users and bring in additional revenue from digital advertising.
Atlas does not have an address bar, which is a key feature in search. But CEO Sam Altman said the browser was “built around ChatGPT” and described it as a “rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one”.
OpenAI also announced it would be offering a paid agent mode, which could conduct its own searches for paying ChatGPT subscribers.
The agent mode will use the data from its chatbot to improve user experience, including making it faster and useful by “working with your browsing context”.
In a bid to entice users towards its online services, the San Francisco-based company has also partnered with e-commerce sites Etsy and Shopify as well as booking services like Expedia and booking.com.
The move comes just a month after OpenAI introduced instant checkout within ChatGPT, enabling users to make purchases within its platform.
Atlas is now available for free on Apple’s MacOS operating system and will be rolled out across Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s iOS phones and Google’s Android later.
AI has disrupted the search ecosystem and it’s becoming all about the conversational answer engines. For affiliates that means rethinking their SEO strategies.
Aaron Chen, Digital Marketing Manager at LexisNexis wrote on LinkedIn: “For marketers, SEO specialists, and e-commerce leaders, this isn’t a minor update. It’s a paradigm shift. It changes how people search, how websites are discovered, and how purchasing decisions are made.
“As someone who’s worked across digital strategy, marketing technology, and data-driven optimisation, I see ChatGPT Atlas as the beginning of what I call the ‘generative interface era’ where the browser itself becomes the assistant, analyst, and conversion funnel in one.”
Dingnews.com 22/10/2025