I have to imagine Perplexity AI enjoyed its time in the sun as the only major AI company with an AI-forward browser on the market. I’ve used Comet off and on since it debuted back in July 2025, and even though Perplexity has continued to add new features to Comet, such as its AI-powered Email Assistant, the competitors have been closing in.
First, it was Opera’s Neon AI browser. Now, though, it’s the headliner. Everyone was wondering if OpenAI’s ChatGPT would shrink from Perplexity’s declaration of AI war or if it’d counter Comet with its own browser dripping with AI integrations.
Now we have our answer, and it’s called ChatGPT Atlas.
not a shrug
For a while, it looked as if OpenAI was just going to keep adding apps to its ChatGPT browser interface, rather than try to take over the browser market itself and do battle with Comet, Neon, and the conventional browsers—Chrome, Safari, and Firefox—that still own the vast majority of the browser space.
Unlike Perplexity’s Comet, which launched in July 2025 as an invitation-only app for those who didn’t spend $200 per month on Perplexity’s most expensive subscription tier, OpenAI has unleashed ChatGPT Atlas for everybody.
Comet is now free for everybody, too, but ChatGPT Atlas is skipping the whole stage of dripping out onto the market slowly. Perhaps OpenAI feels that there’s no time to play coy. It struck the first major blow upon the public’s consciousness in the AI space with ChatGPT, and so it must be smarting from Perplexity being the first major AI firm to debut an AI-first browser, and three months before Atlas, too.
ChatGPT Atlas is only available on macOS right now, though. It’ll come to Windows, iOS, and Android later on. That’s a major black eye for OpenAI. Comet has been available for both macOS and Windows (10 and 11) since day one.
I’ve yet to try out ChatGPT Atlas, but I’m going to give it a good test, and then a nice, vicious head-to-head against Comet in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
The post Look Out, Comet. The ChatGPT Atlas AI Browser Has Struck. appeared first on VICE.
