Chrome, despite its recent actions against ad blocking browser extensions, retains a massive lead in the market. It’s simple, has an intuitive user interface, and many people are too entrenched into the Google ecosystem to want to switch.
OpenAI plans to compete by offering consumers a very different way of searching the internet, according to Reuters. Obviously, AI will play a pivotal role in this new experience. The idea is to provide users with answers in a chat box, instead of them having to open websites individually.
Users will also be able to follow up on the search results by asking the AI further questions, and getting concise answers in return. Such a solution, much like the ChatGPT app that currently exists, will also allow the user to get the AI to craft charts, lists, or other elements from the search results.
Given the fact that an ongoing antitrust trial may force Google to stop being able to pay Apple to remain the default search engine in Safari only adds to the former’s woes. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows on OpenAI’s part either, and this proposed browser is likely to face critique and challenges.
For starters, the entire premise further takes away traffic from websites, similar to Google’s currently available AI-powered search. I think that it’s very likely that there will be an uproar over this, and some users will boycott the new browser out of principle. There’s also the possibility that some sites may ban the browser entirely, just like they block OpenAI’s web crawlers from exploring their content.
Furthermore, Google can very easily come up with something similar. The company’s flagship AI model, Gemini, has improved drastically, and is pretty much on par with ChatGPT. As mentioned above, AI-powered Google search already exists, and it wouldn’t be too difficult for the company to quickly make a similar browser.
Despite these complications, I think that ChatGPT’s soaring usage is enough proof to know that OpenAI’s new browser will likely be a commercial success.
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