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OpenAI’s Browser: ChatGPT Atlas
00:20:43
Just two stories. First, OpenAI launches a web browser, ChatGPT Atlas. What it does, and why are they doing it. Then, Samsung has made a cheaper Vision Pro. They call it the Galaxy XR headset. What IT does, and why are THEY doing it.
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This episode is brought to you by Indeed. When your computer breaks, you don't wait for it to magically start working again. You fix the problem. So why wait to hire the people your company desperately needs? Use Indeed Sponsored Jobs to hire top talent fast and even better, you only pay for results. There's no need to wait. Speed up your hiring with a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to the Tech Boo. Write home for Wednesday, October 22, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, really just two stories. First, OpenAI has launched a web browser, ChatGPT Atlas. What it does and why are they doing it. Then Samsung has made a cheaper Vision Pro. They call it the Galaxy XR headset. What it does and why are they doing it? Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. OpenAI has launched its ChatGPT Atlas web browser, available initially for macOS and coming soon to Windows, iOS and Android, with an Ask ChatGPT sidebar quoting the Verge. But its Agent mode is only available to ChatGPT plus and pro users for now, said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The way that hope people will use the Internet in the future, the chat experience and a web browser can be a great analog, altman said. Adam Fry, the product lead for ChatGPT search, said one of the browser's best features is memory, making the browser more personalized and more helpful to you, as well as an agent mode, meaning that in Atlas, ChatGPT can now take actions for you. It can help you book reservations or flights, or even just edit a document that you're working on. Users can see and manage the browser's memories and settings, employees said, as well as Open Incognito Windows. The browser's Agent mode clearly builds on OpenAI's past forays into agentic AI, such as its Operator tool, an early version of a tool allowing ChatGPT to use a computer on a user's behalf, and ChatGPT agent, the next iteration, which was designed to be able to complete more complex tasks, Shop and more, though it wasn't always successful in that realm. Whenever you click a link from a search result in Atlas, it'll by default show a split screen with the web page and the ChatGPT transcript, with the goal being to display a companion at all times, employees said, though a user can turn off the split screen if they'd rather on the livestream, employees also demonstrated the browser's summarization features for web pages, as well as selecting text from an email and clicking a button to have ChatGPT tidy up the sentence in line. The latter feature is called Cursor Chat. This is just a great browser all around. It's smooth, it's quick, it's really nice to use, Altman said. The AI browser wars have been heating up for a while. OpenAI and announced a prototype of its search engine, dubbed SearchGPT, all the way back in July 2024. But in recent months, AI fueled browsers have felt like the latest frontier in AI hype. This summer, Perplexity launched its Buzzy Comet browser, an AI powered solution aiming to simplify the way people browse the web and complete tasks. Instead of a laundry list of Google search results, you get a Perplexity answer engine, which offers a few links to relevant websites and generates an answer to your query. It can also scan all your open tabs, summarize videos, declutter your email inbox, and even make purchases on Amazon. In September, Google announced that it would more deeply embed its Gemini AI Assistant into Chrome, and that in the coming months it plans to allow Gemini in Chrome to be able to do tedious tasks on your behalf, such as grocery shop schedule, appointments, book reservations and more, although Google declined to specify a launch date. End Quote I want to circle back and underline something else here. OpenAI says ChatGPT Atlas Opt in Browser Memories feature can remember key details from your web browsing to improve chat responses and offer suggestions. Here's Simon Willison talking about that and also the Agent mode quote chatgpt Atlas is a Mac only web browser with a variety of ChatGPT enabled features. You can bring up a chat panel next to a web page which will automatically be populated with the context of that page. The Browser Memories feature is particularly notable described here. If you turn on browser memories, ChatGPT will remember key details from your web browsing to improve chat responses and offer smarter suggestions like retrieving a webpage you read a while ago. Browser memories are private to your account and under your control. You can view them all in settings, archive ones that are no longer relevant, and clear your browsing history to delete them. Atlas also has an experimental agent mode where ChatGPT can take over navigating and interacting with the page for you, accompanied by a weird Sparkle overlay effect. Here's how the help page describes that mode. In agent mode, ChatGPT can complete end to end tasks for you, like researching a meal plan, making a list of ingredients, and adding the groceries to a shopping cart ready for delivery. You're always in control. ChatGPT GPT is trained to ask before taking many important actions, and you can pause, interrupt, or take over the browser at any time. Agent Mode also operates under boundaries. System Access Cannot run code in the browser, download files, or install extensions. Data Access Cannot access other apps on your computer or your file system, read or write ChatGPT memories, access saved passwords, or use autofill data. Browsing Activity Pages ChatGPT visits in Agent mode are not added to your browsing history. You can also choose to run Agent in logged out mode and ChatGPT won't use any pre existing cookies and won't be logged into any of your online accounts without your specific approval. I continue to find this entire category of browser agents deeply confusing. The security and privacy risks involved here still feel insurmountably high to me. I certainly won't be trusting any of these products until a bunch of security researchers have given them a very thorough beating. I'd like to see a deep explanation of the steps Atlas takes to avoid prompt injection attacks. Right now it looks like the main defense is expecting the user to carefully watch what Agent Mode is doing at all times. I also find these products pretty unexciting to use. I tried out Agent Mode and it was like watching a first time computer user painstakingly learn to use a mouse for the first time. I have yet to find my own use cases for when this kind of interaction feels useful to me, though I'm not ruling that out. But circling back again, why is OpenAI doing a browser in the first place? Well, Forbes has seven reasons for you. Number one Better user experience as mentioned above, offering the browser and the AI together in a single tool means less friction, no copy and paste between windows, more context, and a smoother workflow. All of that makes ChatGPT's core products better platform Lock in if you use the Atlas browser, OpenAI becomes a core part of your daily life. You probably open a browser more frequently than the ChatGPT app. Now you'll do both at the same time. That means you're a more secure OpenAI customer. You're locked in. Number three traffic and attention when OpenAI owns your browser, OpenAI captures a larger share of your attention and web navigation time that over time can be monetized in multiple ways, including but not limited to advertising. 4. New data and Signals all the big tech companies want to get more data. Having richer signals about what users are doing, what tasks they're tackling, what websites they visit allows better personalization and more tailored models. It also future proofs big tech companies against future technological and business changes because they see what huge swaths of the population do at early inflection points and can then acquire or hobble potential competitors. Number five expansion of agentic capabilities owning the browser environment means OpenAI can unleash advanced agentic features on anything that is possible to do on the web. Work, commerce, chores, research and that list is basically endless. All of that is hard or impossible in an app that doesn't have native access to the richness and diversity of the open web. 6. Disrupting the search and Advertising model At some level of size, tech companies all start to compete with the giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft. Shifting users to ChatGPT Atlas ensures they'll spend less time on Google's and Apple's browsers, less time clicking through search results and less time viewing ads. That means OpenAI becomes the new interface for web interactions and Google gets disrupted. And number seven new business models if OpenAI is your new agent for product research, purchase, ticket buying and more, there's room for additional monetization. Agent mode, commerce, subscriptions and premium tasks are all pathways to taking a larger chunk out of your wallet beyond a $20 a month subscription. On a larger competitive level, this moves OpenAI up the platform value chain. They don't have devices and they don't have operating systems yet, which are the ultimate positions of power in the super lucrative tech ecosystem. But since we spend so much of our time in browsers, at least when on laptops and desktops, this gives OpenAI a meaningful shot at a powerful platform position of their own. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more@WhatsApp.com the digital world is more connected behind the scenes than you may realize. Interconnected is a video podcast series by Equinix that explores the hidden infrastructure behind our connected future. 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The new Galaxy branded headset is the first in a wave of wearables running Android xr, a new operating system from Google optimized for mixed reality devices. Samsung and Google are also working together on smart glasses that, like the Galaxy xr, will incorporate Google's Gemini artificial Intelligence Assistant. Google is collaborating on similar glasses with other brands too, including Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Glasses from the two companies are coming pretty soon, said Samsung in an interview, adding, the firms are really building and laying the foundation for our roadmap of Google and Samsung working together. Like the Vision Pro, the Galaxy XR is equipped with a high resolution 4K micro OLED display for each eye and has pass through cameras so users can see their surroundings. There's also a fully immersive mode optimized for tasks like gaming or watching videos under the hood. The headset is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chip. Battery life is rated at 2 and a half hours per charge. That runtime is on par with the Vision Pro, but still isn't enough to make it through longer movies like Mission Impossible. The final reckoning? Samsung said the company set the price below rivals to make it as accessible as possible. Aside from cost, Samsung also sought to address another frequent criticism of the Vision Pro weight. The Galaxy XR weighs just 545 grams, while Apple's headset tops out at 800 grams. Following the addition of its new, more ergonomic headband, the Galaxy XR will be available exclusively at Samsung stores and online, at least initially. Major retailers like Best Buy aren't planning to offer the device at launch. Samsung is working to expand the headset's retail presence in the coming months, the executive said, but logistical complications like accommodating prescription lenses could limit that effort. Best Buy has thus far refrained from selling the Vision Pro for similar reasons. Like Apple before it, Samsung is touting the Galaxy XR as a first rate entertainment consumption device. But unlike Apple, the Korean company has two key native app partners in Netflix and YouTube. Even when app developers don't choose to release an app specifically for Android xr, many regular Android applications designed for phones and tablets will still be able to run on the Galaxy XR in some form. Google said. Apple offers a similar compatibility option. Beyond movies and TV, many of the Galaxy XR's features are designed to showcase Gemini's latest AI tricks. Some of them are promising While wearing the headset, you can draw a circle with your finger around real world objects or anything on your screen to pull up information about them, including in some cases a shopping page. End quote yes, underlining that the Galaxy XR features Gemini Live that understands a user's surroundings and lets them interact with apps hand free and I want to come back and circle again that Samsung says it is working on Android XR based smart glasses in partnership with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. But what we really care about right is what it's like to use well well here's the Verge quote the hardware still looks like a Vision Pro mixed with a meta quest 3. There aren't creepy eyes on the front screen, though. There is still a glass panel that houses several cameras to capture your surroundings and hand gestures. There are micro OLEDs inside that support 4K resolution and up to 90Hz refresh rates, which should make scrolling and games look smooth. Samsung promises up to two and a half hours of battery life, right on par with the Vision Pro. There's no removable strap, it's all a lightweight plastic with a cushion back piece and a dial that you use to adjust tightness. The materials don't feel as premium as the Vision Pro, but plastic is easier to clean than fabric and when I slip it onto my head, it's significantly lighter and the weight is distributed more evenly. The first Vision Pro was extremely front heavy, but a new strap helps a lot with that. It took until the end of the 30 minute demo for me to start feeling some tension. So much of the experience inside the headset is similar to the Vision Pro that I can imagine Apple's lawyers bristling. There's a high resolution pass through, though I wouldn't call it crystal clear. The headset tracks what you're looking at and you pinch your fingers to select. One difference is that there's a quest like cursor when you point at menus and XR elements, making it a smidge easier to tell if the correct thing is highlighted. Otherwise, the interface is a Google flavored version of what you'll find in a Vision Pro. Feature wise, there's everything from spatial photos and immersive environments to blowing up multiple browser windows for maximum productivity. There's also automatic spatialization for existing 2D content, as in when I go to YouTube to watch a recent Vergecast episode, a 3D version of my colleague David Pearce leaps forward from the video. There's a wide swath of content, and you get access to Google apps like YouTube and Maps, among others. If you think AI is a selling point, Gemini is integrated into this headset far more effectively than Siri is in the Vision Pro and can. Compared to gadgets like phones, tablets and computers, these headsets are much easier to use as standalone devices. But the most popular use case we've seen so far for these headsets is using them as your own personal theater. The Galaxy XR may lack some of the Vision Pro's premium polish and what amounts to the power of a full fledged Mac, but immersive, content wise, it's good enough. Plus, if you want to use it for productivity, you can cast a Samsung Galaxy Book laptop screen to the headset, though it's unclear how this compares to casting a Mac to a Vision Pro, answer calls from it, or share files between the headset and other devices. I'm not convinced that the average person will ever want these expensive high tech XR gadgets. You could argue Galaxy XR is also dead on arrival, especially since the zeitgeist seems to be shifting heavily toward smart glasses. But for those who do want headsets, on paper, the Galaxy XR headset is the much better value. You're getting a similar consumption experience. It's nearly half the price. Heck, it costs less than a Z Fold seven and it's much easier to wear for a longer period of time ok, heads up that I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off. I'll tell you why in a second. But first, to let you know, I will be leaving you with two great bonus episodes. The first first is an hour long sit down with Clemente Delong, the founder and CEO of Hugging Face. Hugging Face is a name you hear on the show all the time. It's become sort of key infrastructure in the AI era. A GitHub for especially open source AI, if you will. We go deep on what Hugging Face does, how they pivoted to what they do, and also how they are thinking about open source AI going forward. That will be tomorrow's episode. And then on Friday, we sit down again with friend of the show and fellow listener of the show, Baratunde Thurston. We get his thoughts about where AI is going for creators. But also, did you know Baratunde was the person who brought both the Onion and the Daily show into the modern social media digital media era. If there is an intersection of comedy and technology, Baratunde is at that nexus. So those are the two episodes I am leaving you with until I get back to you on Monday. Why am I taking this personal time? Because my parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. We're actually heading to Fargo, North Dakota. Anyone listening right now? In Fargo, the thing is, over their 50 years of wedded bliss, my parents have been to 49 of the 50 states. North Dakota was the last one on their list. So we're doing a 50 years, 50 states sort of celebration because why not? We, we all couldn't settle on, oh, should we do Key west or should we do the Grand Canyon or Vegas or something? And since we couldn't settle on anything, we decided on all convening in a place none of us had ever been. So there you go, Fargo. Actually, after this weekend, the only state missing from my personal list will be Alaska. So maybe I've got a birthday trip in my future. Talk to y' all on Monday. Limu Emu and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat. Habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. 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