OpenAI is building a new AI-powered browser that will go head-to-head with Google Chrome, and it’s coming sooner than expected. The launch is expected in the next few weeks, according to Reuters.
The browser will use artificial intelligence to change how people browse and search. Instead of just opening websites, it will let users get answers straight inside a ChatGPT-style window. That means fewer clicks, fewer tabs—and less traffic for Google.
This browser could put a serious dent in Google’s ad machine. Chrome is a critical part of how Alphabet makes money. It helps the company collect user data, target ads, and push people toward Google Search by default.
That loop generates nearly 75% of Alphabet’s total revenue. But if ChatGPT’s 400 million weekly users switch to OpenAI’s browser, that loop breaks. And the money flows with it.
Browser keeps users inside ChatGPT
Two people familiar with the project said OpenAI’s browser is designed to hold user activity inside the browser’s chat interface. So instead of clicking links, users can interact directly with the AI and stay inside that experience. That’s a direct challenge to the way Chrome works—and the way websites earn traffic. It’s also part of a bigger move by OpenAI to make its tools a core part of how people live and work every day.
OpenAI is led by Sam Altman, who introduced ChatGPT in 2022 and immediately changed the pace of the tech industry. After its early success, OpenAI has been trying to stay ahead of rivals like Google and Anthropic by expanding fast. One way it’s doing that is through hardware. OpenAI recently closed a $6.5 billion all-stock deal to acquire io, an AI device company co-founded by Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief.
That deal, OpenAI’s biggest ever, gives the company a full hardware unit and access to some of the top talent behind the iPhone. The company hasn’t disclosed exact product plans yet, but the move signals a deeper push into physical AI products. OpenAI briefly removed marketing content about io from its website in June due to a trademark dispute over the startup’s name. A spokesperson for Ive called the complaint “utterly baseless.”
Google loses grip on browser edge
Google isn’t sitting pretty either. Chrome has more than 3 billion users and controls over two-thirds of the global browser market, based on figures from StatCounter. Apple’s Safari comes in a distant second with only 16% market share. That market dominance has drawn legal pressure. A U.S. judge ruled that Alphabet holds an unlawful monopoly in online search, and the Justice Department has asked Google to break up parts of its ad business.
OpenAI’s browser, like Chrome, will be built on Chromium—Google’s open-source codebase that also powers Microsoft Edge and Opera. But OpenAI isn’t just using Google’s tools. It’s also hired Google’s people. Last year, it brought in two longtime Google executives who helped build Chrome from the start. Their hiring was first reported by The Information, confirming that OpenAI had been thinking about building a browser for a while.
Other companies are moving in the same direction. The Browser Company, Brave, and Perplexity have all launched or announced AI-based browsers this year. Perplexity rolled out its own version, called Comet, just this week. But none of them have the reach that OpenAI brings with ChatGPT and its massive user base.
At the same time, OpenAI says it now has 3 million paying business users on ChatGPT , giving it a serious foothold in enterprise tools. That growing influence could make it easier for OpenAI to turn its browser into a daily habit for people, just like Google did with Chrome.
The browser launch is part of a bigger strategy: control more of the internet experience, collect more user signals, and compete directly with Alphabet on its home turf. If it works, it won’t just shift traffic. It could reshape the way online ads, content discovery, and search itself function in 2025.
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