OpenAI and Perplexity are entering the browser market with AI-native alternatives, and they’re not just offering smarter search but completely rethinking how users interact with the web. By embedding conversational agents at the core of browsing, these new players are setting the stage for a shift that could challenge Chrome’s dominance, reshape online discovery, and alter how content is accessed, summarised, and acted on in real time.
Browsers With AI At Their Core
This is more than a UI refresh. Both OpenAI and Perplexity are turning the browser into an AI assistant-driven command center, promising to automate everyday tasks, summarise vast amounts of content, and serve as intelligent companions while users work, browse, or shop.
Perplexity’s Comet browser is a strong example of this new approach. It features a persistent assistant in a side panel that users can activate on any webpage. The assistant can summarise news articles, organise research tabs into collections, draft replies to emails, and even assist with online bookings.
Tools like the “Ask” button provide on-the-spot clarification, while the “Summarise” feature condenses lengthy content into digestible overviews, ideal for quickly scanning reports, blog posts, or product reviews. For instance, a user searching for the best games in 2025, or best casino apps for Android and iOS, would receive a concise AI-generated summary comparing various game features, as well as licensing, bonuses, and payment options across several platforms, without needing to visit each site individually.
OpenAI’s upcoming browser, expected to launch soon, is poised to push this concept even further. Built on Chromium, it centers around Operator, a conversational AI agent capable of handling multi-step workflows. Users can issue natural language commands like “Compare economy flights to Tokyo next weekend and sort by shortest duration” or “Fill in this registration form using my saved travel info.”
Operator can visually interpret webpages, interact with complex elements, self-correct when it encounters errors, and execute multiple requests at once. The browser will feature a native chat interface, transforming search into an ongoing conversation rather than a series of disconnected queries.
In both cases, the browser is no longer just a tool to access content, it becomes a proactive assistant that helps users filter, process, and act on information in real time.
Why Go After Chrome Now
There’s a strategic rationale behind this timing. Google Chrome still dominates the browser market with over 65 percent global share, but that dominance is increasingly under scrutiny. Antitrust investigations, the rise of privacy-conscious users, and Google’s own pivot to AI via Gemini in Chrome all create opportunities for challengers.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has even described Comet as a new “operating system for the web”,designed to integrate across apps and workflows. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Operator browser signals the company’s deeper ambition to build an AI-first productivity suite that blends search, automation, and multi-tasking into a single user interface.
A New Model For Data, Privacy, And Discovery
The promise of AI browsers is powerful, but it comes with real implications. One major shift is data control. These browsers aim to keep more user interactions within their own platforms, which could reduce reliance on search result links and limit the flow of data back to traditional publishers.
That could spell trouble for online businesses that rely on referral traffic. A browser that instantly answers a question like “how to apply for a business loan in Australia” without sending users to external sites may offer speed and efficiency, but it also cuts off a key revenue stream for content creators and advertisers. It’s a dynamic that mirrors concerns raised about Google’s new AI Mode, which increasingly provides answers directly in search without generating outbound clicks.
Privacy will also remain a critical issue. While Perplexity has publicly distanced itself from an ad-driven model, both companies are still building tools that rely on rich behavioral data to personalise user experiences. The challenge will be balancing intelligent assistance with clear guardrails on what’s collected, stored, or shared.
Where Does The Open Web Go From Here
AI browsers mark a shift toward instant answers and fewer page visits, potentially sidelining traditional search and link-based exploration. As agents handle more queries directly, the open web’s model of decentralised access and visibility could be disrupted.
Small businesses and publishers may find it harder to compete in ecosystems shaped by AI summaries. Still, this shift brings a chance to redefine how information is found and trusted, with success hinging on transparency, reliability, and user control.