2025 is the year of the AI web browser, with the launch of Copilot Mode in Edge, Opera’s Neon, and Perplexity’s Comet. Even Chrome, the dominant force among traditional web browsers, is adding AI functionality via Gemini. And now, OpenAI, the biggest name in AI, is joining the party with its Chromium-based ChatGPT Atlas browser.
But is it the best one yet? Based on my testing, the answer isn’t definitive. Practically any other browser is better than Atlas for standard web surfing, but I did find its Agent mode cool to watch and occasionally impressive. Here’s how it works and what you should expect.
How Do You Get the Atlas Browser?
For now, Atlas is available only for macOS, but OpenAI says Android and Windows versions are coming soon. I tested the browser on a MacBook Air with an M1 processor. Although that device has onboard AI processing capabilities, the Atlas browser still requires cloud processing.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
The onboarding process for the browser is quite clear, with more hand-holding than I expected. To get started, head to OpenAI’s Atlas page and click the Download button. Downloading it doesn’t require an account for now, so I was able to get the DMG app file and just install it as usual.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
Upon first launching Atlas, it greets you with a Welcome dialog box and asks you to sign in. Atlas takes you directly to the login page rather than spawning your default browser. Signing in also fires off a couple of notifications. I logged in with my password and used my authenticator app to complete the multi-factor authentication process.
OpenAI says that Atlas is available for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users, meaning you don’t need a paid account. Pretty much every other browser is free (including many AI ones), so that makes sense. Just keep in mind that free users get limited usage of AI features compared with paid users and miss out on the Agent mode (see below).
As in standard, Atlas then prompted me to import my bookmarks and history from my default browser. Only Safari and Chrome were options, however, neither of which is my default.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
The next option is something you don’t see during a typical browser setup: Atlas asked me whether I wanted to turn on Memories. This allows the AI to observe your interactions and provide more accurate responses. The panel says that the information remains private, and, fortunately, the linked documentation confirms that AI model training based on your actions is disabled by default. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in my testing. If you do want to turn it on manually, enable the “Improve the model for everyone” setting.
Training is active by default if you enabled it in your main ChatGPT account, which is the default for non-business accounts. Be sure to check this setting if you’re concerned about your private interactions going into OpenAI’s models. The bottom line is that the “private” bit in OpenAI’s marketing language isn’t fully accurate. As Microsoft discovered with its Recall feature on Copilot+ PCs, these types of features (including ones that operate locally) can have unexpected and undesired consequences, despite their convenience.
The next panel in the setup process simply informs you about some of the browser’s unique capabilities, in particular that you can access the AI in a sidebar to ask it to summarize or provide info about the current website or even carry out actions on it for you via Agent mode.
Next is another informational panel that shows how you can highlight text on web pages to generate text. Then, we’re back to an option you see during all browser setup processes: Atlas tries to get you to set it as your default browser. The difference here is that you get extended AI interaction limits for chats, data analysis, file uploads, and image generation if you do. For the sake of testing, I assented and made Atlas my default.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
Finally, I saw the last of these setup boxes, which merely showed how long I’d had a ChatGPT account.
Atlas looks a lot like Chrome at first glance, except with a ChatGPT search box rather than a Google one. The user interface is actually cleaner than Chrome’s, however, without the buttons along the top-right window title bar. And—shocker—you don’t see an address or search bar at all until you click on the blank area where those typically live.
I rely on toolbar buttons for things like Downloads, Favorites, and History, so Atlas’ inability to show these chagrined me. You can click a menu option or use a shortcut key to display the entire history page, but I prefer the convenience of a button with drop-down results. Otherwise, Atlas lets you install browser extensions from the Chrome Web Store. I simply ignored an ad box promoting ChatGPT Business, which offered advanced models and connectors to my work data, since I don’t think my IT staff would approve.
This design effectively encourages you to use the on-page ChatGPT search box. Unlike with other browsers, you can’t set a default search engine. Of course, you can still just navigate to Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Google in a regular browser tab within Atlas. You can also configure shortcut keys for searching with other engines, but it’s not as straightforward a process as in other browsers. Another weirdness is the microphone button in the search box. I expect this to simply enable voice interaction, but it instead uploaded a recording of what I said for processing.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
When I typed “Google Chrome” into the ChatGPT search box, I appreciated receiving web links in return, rather than an AI-generated conversation. This indicates that this search box is pretty good at understanding when you’re searching for websites versus when you want to chat. The search results page feels spacious and sparse because it’s free of ads! Scrolling down the page reveals (after some image results) more AI-chatbot-like results, with sections on What Is Google Chrome, Key Features, and so on.
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(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
When I used the web search mode to ask, “How to turn on Agent mode in ChatGPT Atlas,” I didn’t get any results. Google obliged, however, informing me that I needed a Plus account for this feature. The very basic and unhelpful Help in Atlas couldn’t tell me the same, and I wish the setup process had noted this requirement from the start.
An important Atlas interface feature is the left-side panel, which can be opened with an icon. It offers New Chat, Search, Library, Archived Chats, Codex (programming AI), GPTs, and New Project options. If you’re on a web page, you can open a right–side panel via the Ask ChatGPT button to ask questions about the current page. Unfortunately, when I tried to do this, I was told that I had to attach the web page or upload a file to proceed. That seems to defeat the purpose of having AI in the browser; Edge has been able to do this for a couple of years without much fuss. However, my initial experience may have been influenced by the PCMag page I was browsing; the summary feature worked fine with a Yahoo Finance article.
Controlling Browser Settings With AI Partially Works
Atlas is self-aware. When I told it to “switch to dark mode,” the browser complied, with the window showing white text on a black background. It didn’t fare as well when I asked it to switch my default search engine to Bing. It stated that it would utilize that Microsoft service for web searches going forward, but since there’s no search engine setting, I presumed that it might be using Bing inside of ChatGPT. In any case, my search results were identical to those I got before telling it to switch.
Agent Mode Is a Mixed Bag
When I asked the chatbot inside Atlas to make me a dinner reservation, its response surprised me: It said it couldn’t do that but could show me good restaurant choices. When I tried the same thing in Edge with Copilot mode, it opened the OpenTable site and guided me through the search and reservation process (though this took much longer than it would have for me to do so by myself).
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
As you can see, the response didn’t inform me that upgrading to a paid account would enable this capability. Since I had obtained this information from other sources, I signed up for a free trial of ChatGPT’s Plus account level to try out Agent mode.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
The first time I invoked Agent mode, the browser displayed a large warning about the risks associated with using the feature. You have two options for using it: Logged In and Logged Out. You select these options at the bottom of the right-side panel shown above.
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(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
To fully use the Agent mode, you must log in to the site you want it to act on, in addition to toggling the Logged In mode. This limitation alone restricts the usefulness of Agent mode. In any case, I logged into my Outlook test account and asked the right-side panel to compose a thank-you letter to a friend for taking me to dinner last night at a local Mexican restaurant.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
Afterward, I could start to see the magic. Sparkles appeared on the page, and a “Getting Started” message appeared. Atlas followed up with similar messages explaining the steps it was taking. As with Copilot Mode in Edge and Perplexity Comet, a toolbar appears with the option to “Take Control,” which is useful if it appears the AI is going haywire. The result, which took about 15 seconds, was quite basic but adequate:
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
I then asked Atlas to make dinner reservations on OpenTable at an Italian restaurant in NYC for 7 p.m. It handled this impressively, even without me logging in to my account. Like Edge in Copilot mode and Perplexity Comet, however, the process was far from instantaneous. It was fun to watch its decision process as it selected the highest rated restaurant and an available time. It chose a $99-per-person prixe-fixe place, however, a little rich for my blood. At that point, I did need to fill in my phone number or log in to complete the reservation.
Next, I asked Atlas to find a recipe for eggplant Parmesan and fill an Instacart cart with the items. It quickly found a recipe online, and then I enjoyed seeing it loading the Instacart with items at Costco. I’ll call this a win for Atlas. This took six minutes, however, and at the end, Atlas instructed me to log in and complete the order. Granted, I could probably have done this myself in less time, but why lift a finger? A little later, I discovered a mistake: Somehow, I don’t think you need Good Humor Frozen Dessert Bar Strawberry Shortcake bars to make lasagna.
For a final test, I asked Atlas to retrieve the closing prices of the S&P 500 for the last 30 days and create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets with those, along with the corresponding percentage increase or decrease. Initially, it generated code to download the data, but that didn’t pan out, so it turned to Yahoo Finance and obtained the numbers. It stopped me from logging into a Google account. I had to ask it to resume after logging in. Oddly, even after I logged in, the sidebar still said “logged out.” The difficulty here is that Atlas’s Logged In mode is separate from whether you’re actually logged in to a site. For everything to work, you need to be logged in to the site and in Agent’s Logged In mode. In any case, this time the operation came to a halt. I received an “error in message stream” message, but the tool restarted the tasks when I clicked the Retry button.
It’s amusing to see Atlas’ positive self-talk while it’s working: “The user has asked me to repeat the previous tasks. I need to carefully consider how to approach this again to ensure I deliver the same high level of accuracy and usefulness. Let’s aim for another successful outcome!” I was actually hoping for a more successful outcome.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
Several times, when I asked it something like “Why did you stop?” It redoubled its efforts. I appreciated how it named the spreadsheet S&P 500 Last 30 Days, even without my request. It also created formulas to calculate the percent increases, though I expect you can simply download this information without needing to perform calculations. In the end, it successfully produced the sheet and gave me a link to it in the right-side panel.
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
Again, this was something I could have done myself more quickly. I’m sure there are more complex business processes that the tool could accomplish more efficiently than a human, but the less complex tasks I gave it seem to challenge the AI browser enough.
Use Atlas to Supplement, Not Replace, Your Main Browser
In its current state, I can’t wholly recommend ChatGPT Atlas to anyone. You’re much better off sticking with your current browser (most of which now have some sort of AI functionality) and opening the ChatGPT website to use its generative AI features. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox all let you summarize the current web page with less effort than Atlas requires, too. That said, it’s entertaining to observe Atlas’ Agent mode go through its thought processes. I could thus see using Atlas as a secondary browser for tasks or projects that you’re not sure about handling yourself—so long as you don’t mind paying for a ChatGPT account and verifying its actions.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
About Our Expert
Michael Muchmore
Principal Writer, Software
Experience
I’ve been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team. I’ve attended trade shows for Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.
I still get a kick out of seeing what’s new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft misstep and win, up to the latest Windows 11.
I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical music fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.
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