AI browsers face “bad website paradox” as competition heats up

OpenAI has launched Atlas, its entry into the competitive AI-powered browser market, despite being significantly late to the game compared to competitors like Perplexity’s Comet browser. The company’s massive consumer brand recognition gives it a strong chance to succeed in the emerging AI browser space, even potentially challenging Google’s dominance, though these browsers still face significant technical and security hurdles.

The big picture: AI-enabled browsers remain in their infancy and struggle with what industry observers call the “bad website paradox” — they work well on well-designed sites but get stumped by poorly constructed websites.

• Reed Albergotti from Semafor noted that Perplexity’s Comet browser “still gets completely stumped on the website Semafor uses for expenses and travel.”
• While AI browsers can handle some impressive tasks, “on the most complex tasks, some little thing always goes wrong,” preventing them from truly replacing time-consuming daily web activities.

Key challenges: Industry experts warn that AI browsers face substantial barriers to widespread adoption and user trust.

• Bloomberg columnist Dave Lee argues that ChatGPT Atlas has “little chance of persuading a meaningful number of Chrome users to switch” because AI solutions for clicking through websites are “glitchy and unreliable.”
• The mouse control feature requires OpenAI’s $20-per-month “Plus” subscription, which could deter users from switching.
• Washington Post columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler cautions that using Atlas means “giving it permission to access essentially all of our online data and activity,” creating “vast” privacy risks with “confusing at best” management controls.

OpenAI’s potential solution: The company suggests that website creators could implement accessibility features to help AI models navigate their sites more effectively, though this approach may primarily benefit already well-designed websites.

Competition context: Perplexity CEO acknowledged the imperfect nature of AI browsers when launching Comet in July, emphasizing the importance of early market positioning.

• “You’ve got to position your product and your technology with the assumption that the models are eventually going to be great and also going to be affordable,” he told Semafor.