AI Shifts From Chatbots to the Browser

AI is quickly evolving beyond chatbots like ChatGPT, with the next wave focusing on web browsers. This shift could transform how we interact with technology, letting AI access emails, bank accounts, and websites to perform real tasks on our behalf.

Two examples highlight this trend. OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent uses a simple browser to explore the web, while Perplexity’s Comet goes further, enabling AI to access logged-in sites and carry out actions. Both remain limited, with high subscription costs and unreliable performance, but they show where AI is heading.

Although today’s tools are buggy and slow, experts believe advancing reasoning models will make browser-based AI more capable. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas predicts AI will merge with browsers, replacing the need to constantly prompt chatbots. While chatbots will stay relevant on mobile, browsers could unlock AI’s full potential as a proactive assistant.

This trend joins other major AI industry shifts, from new labs like Mira Murati’s enterprise-focused Thinking Machines to Meta poaching OpenAI talent and visa challenges for researchers. The race is on to make AI not just conversational, but truly action-oriented.