Will ChatGPT’s Atlas browser change the game for brand marketers?

It’s interesting that the tech world is seeing ‘browsers’ as the new battleground for AI. But what do brand marketers actually need to know – and how will it impact audiences in the future?

Echo chamber

Firstly, is Atlas any good? In truth, not really. The browser misses the key feature that makes search work, which is understanding intent. It’s reminiscent of an early Google, where results were keyword-heavy and not context-aware. One redeeming feature is its in-browser research support to analyze content, brands, and products, offering rationale behind suggestions. However, most results are US-based and not directly shoppable, requiring constant tab-switching. It also provides opinions without revealing where those insights come from, which isn’t ideal for transparency.

Most importantly, Google has spent two decades mastering fundamentals such as intent, localization, and trusted sources. Today, Atlas’ interface is clunky, holding onto previous queries to create an echo chamber of repeated content rather than surfacing something new. Atlas may catch up, but right now it demands too much effort for simple results.

What Atlas will allow OpenAI to do is make money. With the combination of browser and search engine, OpenAI will be better placed to monetize its services, as Google did with paid search. And if the platform can compete with Google, it would mean that advertising revenue and subscriptions will be the biggest drivers of revenue for OpenAI in the future.

Hurdles ahead

Will people actually use it? Widespread adoption will be difficult for OpenAI to penetrate. Soon, Chrome, Safari, and other personal assistant-based platforms will surely adopt similar features to those that OpenAI is currently pushing, leaving minimal difference between browser functionalities. What this may do, however, is speed up the push of AI Mode in Chrome and Google, with Google's VP of Search recently unveiling a shift in focus towards support of multimodal search, such as visual search.

Atlas needs to overcome a couple of hurdles for it to be truly beneficial for brand marketers. Do audiences want another app that automates purchases? Particularly when apps such as TikTok have captured the younger generations with search and educational content.

Furthermore, will users trust it to choose the right products or services? Do people really want a conversation with their browser about sunscreen, or will they just go to their local shop or Amazon? Finally, will B2B buyers trust Atlas for decisions and research more so than other, more established platforms?

Downloading another browser isn’t hard; making it stick is. Alphabet reportedly pays Apple $20bn annually to be Safari’s default search engine, and with Chrome and Safari owning 90% of the market, Atlas faces an uphill battle.

Integration over interface

Atlas isn’t better, faster, or more engaging than Bing or Google – but it’s a start. It marks OpenAI’s attempt to commercialize ChatGPT beyond subscriptions, opening new advertising and revenue channels. With Atlas currently limited to macOS, this feels like a beta release – or an early glimpse of bigger things to come.

As it stands, I believe the browser market isn’t where OpenAI will win. The bigger play would be to create a truly integrated operating system, providing ChatGPT on a singular device, ie a ChatGPT-designed phone or tablet, rather than relying on audiences to find the app themselves.

Browsers are just the interface between brands and the internet; they’re not the integration of AI and consumers, which will come from devices and OSs in the future. Integrating ChatGPT directly into an OS would make far more sense for OpenAI, enabling a true assistant with access to apps, data, and habits.

While this direction of travel is interesting for OpenAI, it certainly isn’t the 'paradigm shift' industry commentators have claimed it to be – and it isn’t something brand marketers need to shift focus to over other channels. Not yet anyway.