AI Browsers Challenge: Perplexity Comet and ChatGPT Atlas Lead the Revolution

Key Points

• Perplexity’s Comet browser launched globally for free download in October 2025 after initial limited release in July 2025, with mobile versions available for pre-order on Android and iOS.
• OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas browser launched for macOS in October 2025, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions confirmed to be coming soon.
• AI browsers offer agentic capabilities, meaning AI can perform actions autonomously like booking meetings, shopping online, filling forms, and composing emails.
• Comet browser launched in India on September 22, 2025, targeting India as Perplexity’s second-largest market after the US and fastest-growing AI user base.
• Chrome maintains 69.33% desktop market share, followed by Microsoft Edge (15.48%), Safari (7.5%), and Firefox (4.84%).
• Firefox retains competitive advantage using its proprietary Gecko engine instead of Chromium codebase used by most competitors.
• Both Comet and Atlas are built on Chromium, integrating AI search engines directly into browsing experience with contextual awareness and unified search interfaces.

New Delhi: For the first time in years, a genuine challenge has emerged to Google Chrome’s longstanding dominance at the top of the browser market. The new generation of AI-powered browsers offers dramatically enhanced experiences through agentic AI capabilities, meaning the AI can autonomously take actions on behalf of users rather than simply providing suggestions.

In recent months, two major players have entered the arena. Perplexity released its Comet AI browser to all users for free desktop download in October 2025 and is actively planning to bring the full experience to mobile devices. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas arrived on macOS in October 2025, and the company has confirmed it will expand the experience to Windows, iOS, and Android platforms in the near future.

Perplexity Comet: Browse at the Speed of Thought

Perplexity first launched Comet in July 2025 as a limited release, initially restricting access to users subscribed to the highest, most expensive subscription tier. The company opened broader availability gradually, before releasing the browser completely free for download on October 1, 2025.

Comet is built natively on Perplexity’s AI search engine, representing a fundamental departure from the decades-old tabbed interface pioneered by Chrome and Edge. According to Perplexity, the target audience includes people who depend heavily on the internet for work, research, and other purposes.

The browser’s standout features include a built-in AI agent capable of answering questions about open web pages, summarizing content, and performing various tasks autonomously. Unified search integrates Perplexity’s AI search engine as the default, providing accurate, verified information directly within the browsing experience. Browser commands allow users to manage tabs and perform actions using natural language instructions.

Perhaps most impressively, Comet offers contextual awareness by accessing browsing history and open pages to retrieve relevant information and learn user habits over time. The AI sidebar can act as an agent, enabling users to purchase products, schedule meetings, or convert webpages into emails and send them simply by giving text-based directions to the AI assistant. Comet also ensures seamless import, offering compatibility with most websites and easy migration of bookmarks and extensions from other browsers like Google Chrome.

Comet’s Strategic India Launch

Perplexity made a strategic move by launching Comet in India on September 22, 2025, recognizing the country’s importance as the company’s second-largest market after the United States and the fastest-growing pool of AI-native users. The timing reflects India’s emerging position as a critical battleground for AI-powered services.

Unlike Chrome or Edge, Comet uses a powerful AI workspace that remembers research, drafts emails, and even books meetings, all from a single command. With features like Comet Assistant and the new Email Assistant, the browser promises major productivity upgrades for users. Industry observers believe this launch could reshape the future of AI browsers, making Perplexity Comet a significant player in AI-powered browsing.

Mobile versions are available for pre-order on both the Google Play Store for Android and Apple App Store for iOS, though neither marketplace displays specific release dates yet.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas: The Super-Assistant Browser

In October 2025, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a full-featured AI-powered web browser exclusively for macOS, marking the company’s most direct move into the web browser market. OpenAI describes Atlas as a step toward a “super-assistant” that merges browsing and productivity into a single, AI-enhanced experience.

ChatGPT Atlas is a native macOS browser that blends a standard web interface with the conversational and task-executing powers of ChatGPT. Users can interact with the AI in real-time within the browser window, without needing to copy content or switch tabs. Whether researching, writing, shopping, or reading, Atlas can understand the context of the page and provide helpful suggestions or actions based on user input.

Atlas Key Features and Capabilities

Atlas offers contextual assistance, allowing ChatGPT to analyze and understand the content of any webpage being viewed. It can summarize articles, explain concepts, highlight key details, or suggest next steps, all within the browsing window. A ChatGPT sidebar offers instant explanations, while inline editing helps refine writing on the go.

The standout feature is Agent mode, where ChatGPT doesn’t just suggest but actively performs tasks on user commands. In this mode, users can instruct ChatGPT to add items to online shopping carts, schedule meetings via web-based calendars, fill out forms automatically, and compile data from multiple websites. This mode can open new tabs, click through pages, and navigate complex workflows, all with user approval. Agent mode is currently available in preview for Plus, Pro, and Business users.

Atlas also features memory and continuity, with ChatGPT recalling past conversations, preferences, and browsing context across sessions. The browser replaces the traditional address bar with a search and chat hybrid interface, where users can enter a URL or ask a question and receive enhanced results with summaries, related links, and categorized filtering for news, images, and videos.

Atlas Availability and Platform Expansion

ChatGPT Atlas is currently globally available on macOS for Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users. It’s also in beta for Business, Enterprise, and Education accounts, depending on administrator settings. The browser supports Macs with Apple silicon (M-series chips) running macOS 14.2 Monterey or later.

OpenAI has confirmed that Windows, iOS, and Android versions are actively in development, which will make Atlas a multi-platform experience in the near future. This expansion strategy positions Atlas to compete directly with Chrome across all major operating systems.

OpenAI’s Strategic Challenge to Google

OpenAI’s browser launch represents a bold expansion of its AI ecosystem and aims to “reimagine what a browser can entail,” directly challenging Google Chrome’s dominance. The browser is designed to use artificial intelligence to fundamentally change how consumers browse the internet while providing OpenAI with enhanced access to a vital aspect of Google’s success: user data.

Reuters reported in July 2025 that OpenAI was developing the browser, with sources indicating the primary objective was to utilize AI technology to revolutionize internet navigation. This development positions OpenAI to compete for the valuable user behavioral data that has made Chrome so successful for Google’s advertising business.

The Competitive Landscape

OpenAI and Perplexity face significant challenges in overtaking Chrome’s dominance. Google Chrome is utilized by over 3 billion individuals and commands more than two-thirds of the global browser market, with a 69.33% desktop market share according to web analytics data. Microsoft Edge follows at 15.48%, Safari holds 7.5%, and Firefox maintains 4.84%.

However, Firefox retains an inherent advantage in the browser race as one of the oldest browsers still on the market. More importantly, Mozilla does not use the Chromium codebase and instead employs its proprietary Gecko engine, making it fundamentally different from Chromium-based browsers like Atlas, Comet, Opera, Samsung Internet, and others.

This distinction is significant because both Comet and Atlas are built on Chromium, the same open-source foundation that powers Chrome, Edge, and dozens of other browsers. While this provides compatibility advantages, it also means these AI browsers inherit some of Chrome’s architectural limitations.

Growing AI Browser Ecosystem

Perplexity and OpenAI are not alone in the AI browser space. Two AI startups, The Browser and Brave, have also introduced AI-driven browsers capable of navigating and summarizing content from the internet autonomously. This growing ecosystem suggests the market recognizes substantial demand for browsers that go beyond traditional web navigation.

In the coming days and months, Perplexity intends to expand Comet’s functionality further, potentially adding more advanced agentic capabilities. Similarly, OpenAI continues to refine Atlas’s Agent mode and is expected to introduce additional features as the platform matures.

Implications for Google and the Browser Market

The significance of Chrome in supplying user data to facilitate effective and profitable ad targeting for Alphabet has been so impactful that the U.S. Department of Justice has called for Chrome’s divestiture following a 2024 ruling that deemed Google’s parent company to hold an unlawful monopoly in online search.

This regulatory pressure, combined with the emergence of sophisticated AI browsers, creates an unprecedented challenge to Chrome’s dominance. While Chrome has maintained its lead by a long margin for years, the AI browser revolution represents the first genuine technological paradigm shift that could disrupt the status quo.

Whether AI browsers like Comet and Atlas can capture significant market share remains to be seen, but their launch marks a pivotal moment in browser history, potentially transforming how billions of people interact with the internet.

Browser Features Comparison Table

Here’s a comprehensive comparison of all major browsers including the new AI-powered ones: