Conventional artificial intelligence (AI) giants no longer want to be content with simple conversational agents, but rather rethink all web browsing around generative AI, such as OpenAI with its newborn Atlas, to challenge Google’s supremacy.
Although they initially worked in isolation, artificial intelligence assistants like ChatGPT were quickly linked to the Internet, but they do not allow you to move from one site to another, from one page to another, like classic browsers such as Chrome (Google), Edge (Microsoft), Safari (Apple) or Firefox (Mozilla).
On-demand tasks
The OpenAI Atlas, which joined the galaxy of 2.0 browsers on Tuesday, October 21, the Perplexity Comet, the latest version of Edge with Copilot or the Dia and Neon thumbnails, merges chatbot and web browsing.
“We use so many services and applications on the web that integrating AI into the browser makes sense, especially if you want an AI agent to act for you on the Internet,” says Avi Greengart, president of Techsponential. Where the first-generation AI assistant simply provided answers or results, the agent, upon request, performed tasks for the user, such as making a reservation at a restaurant or ordering a pizza.
“We don’t download as much software on our computers as we did ten years ago,” adds Evan Schlossman of investment fund SuRo Capital, “so things are increasingly migrating to the browser.”
However, although these new online exploration tools seem very innovative, they do not stray far from the canons of traditional navigation. “The fact (that Atlas) splits the screen in two” with the web page on one side and the chat window on the other “is already disturbing enough” for users, Avi Greengart said. “And the idea of an AI agent watching everything you do and offering help at all times is not for everyone.”
Faced with fierce competition of a new kind, Google and its giant Chrome, which still holds more than 70% of the browser market according to analytics firm StatCounter, have not implemented features equivalent to those of their rivals. The AI Overviews and AI Mode options interrupt browsing and are only available on the page where the search engine results are displayed, not in the Chrome browser itself, regardless of the sites visited.
A step in evolution
Daniel Newman does not see, however, that Google will lose more than a few points of market share “at this point, because Internet users have become accustomed to using Chrome.” But for Thomas Thiele, partner at consulting firm Arthur D. Little, OpenAI has the advantage of bringing ChatGPT conversation history to your browser, which “gives more clues about people, their tastes and their aspirations” than ever before.
Because the browser could be just one step in the evolution of the relationship between humans and generative AI. “In the future there should be a more ubiquitous platform” in everyday life, predicts Daniel Newman. “A connected portable device, a voice interface. (…) The browser will no longer have the same importance” in the long term, “but in the coming years, as habits are formed, it will be necessary to be where consumers are to secure market share”, thus favoring the browser.
More than just navigation, Evan Schlossman sees the struggle at the heart of AI assistants like ChatGPT and believes in integrating applications within the chatbot universe itself, like what OpenAI introduced in early October. “It is not easy (technically) to integrate these applications,” he admits, “but from the moment this is standardized, there will be a rapid movement from traditional research” towards direct uses in chatbots.
Source: BFM TV
