OpenAI is close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge Alphabet’s market-dominating Google Chrome, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The browser is slated to launch in the coming weeks, three of the people said, and aims to use artificial intelligence to fundamentally change how consumers browse the web. It will give OpenAI more direct access to a cornerstone of Google’s success: user data.
If adopted by the 500 million weekly active users of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s browser could put pressure on a key component of rival Google’s ad-money spigot. Chrome is an important pillar of Alphabet’s ad business, which makes up nearly three-quarters of its revenue, as Chrome provides user information to help Alphabet target ads more effectively and profitably, and also gives Google a way to route search traffic to its own engine by default.
OpenAI’s browser is designed to keep some user interactions within a ChatGPT-like native chat interface instead of clicking through to websites, two of the sources said.
The browser is part of a broader strategy by OpenAI to weave its services across the personal and work lives of consumers, one of the sources said. OpenAI declined to comment.
The sources declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Led by entrepreneur Sam Altman, OpenAI upended the tech industry with the launch of its AI chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022. After its initial success, OpenAI has faced stiff competition from rivals including Google and startup Anthropic, and is looking for new areas of growth.
In May, OpenAI said it would enter the hardware domain, paying $6.5 billion to buy io, an AI devices startup from Apple’s former design chief, Jony Ive.
