List of features OpenAI's bringing to Atlas in the near future

OpenAI joined the browser wars this Tuesday with the launch of its AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas. This browser shipped with several features that lean heavily on the company's language models.

The ChatGPT sidebar can be opened on any webpage to help you with summarizing content or analyzing data. Agent Mode, which allows the AI to interact with websites for you, is another core function, letting you delegate tasks directly. You can also call on ChatGPT from any text field, and the browser uses a memory feature to recall information across sessions.

Despite being bundled with a top-of-the-line LLM chatbot and other "advanced" features, there is still some basic browser stuff that is missing. For example, there is no support for user profiles, a standard for separating work and personal accounts.

The browser also lacks support for browser extensions, meaning your favorite password managers will not work. Other absent features include tab grouping for organization and any cross-platform availability (Atlas is macOS only, for now).

Now, OpenAI has confirmed that it is working on many of these omissions. In an X post, Adam Fry, OpenAI's Product Lead for Atlas, shared a list of short-term priorities. He acknowledged the team has been "heads down making it better" since launch. The planned fixes include multiprofile support, tab groups, an opt-in ad blocker, and a model picker in the sidebar. Here is the full list:

• Fix text entry for Japan and Korea
• Captive portal for Wi-Fi needs to work
• Multiprofile support
• Tab groups
• Model picker in Ask ChatGPT sidebar
• Multiple tab attachments in chat composer and improved @mentions UX
• Use projects from Ask ChatGPT sidebar
• Opt-in ad blocker
• Add a menu listing all shortcuts
• Bookmarks overflow menu (instead of scroll)
• Add speed bump before deleting all chats in Delete Browsing Data dialog
• Improve personalization of suggestions
• Keep improving agent time to first message
• Improve under-triggering of ChatGPT using agent mode
• Make agent "pause" state more reliable
• Improve chain-of-thought animation for different agent actions
• Improve cloud Excel and Google Drive use on agent

Other suggestions from users include making Agent Mode contextually aware, so it knows when to offer help, and automatically reopening pinned tabs on restart. And, perhaps most obvious, people are clamoring for cross-platform support for Windows and Android, which Fry confirmed are "critical" but "bigger efforts".

Like it or not, it seems AI browsers are here to stay. Basically, every major browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge) is incorporating AI in some form.

But we have seen smaller players like Vivaldi swim against the tide by refusing to bake in AI to protect user choice. Another recent example is Tor browser (a Firefox fork) removing AI and ML features that are present in the upstream Firefox code, citing privacy concerns.