Microsoft’s Copilot has just been pushed into a far more social, agentic, and personality-driven phase — and it arrives less than 48 hours after OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas turned the browser into a first‑class surface for AI. The result is an unmistakable escalation: AI browsing has moved from pilot experiment to mainstream product strategy, with competing visions from Microsoft, OpenAI, and startups like Perplexity racing to own how we search, act, and collaborate on the web.
The last week has seen a concentrated burst of activity in the browser/assistant space. OpenAI released ChatGPT Atlas, a dedicated browser with a persistent ChatGPT sidecar and an agent mode that can browse and act on behalf of users in preview for paid tiers. Atlas launched first for macOS and is positioned as a way to make ChatGPT the central interface for web tasks and research.
Microsoft followed two days later with a major Copilot update — a bundled “Fall release” that introduces 12 headline features aimed at making Copilot more personal, more social, and more capable of acting across your apps and tabs. Highlights include shared group sessions for up to 32 participants, improved memory and connectors to services such as OneDrive, Outlook, Gmail and Google Drive, a visible avatar called Mico, and new education and health-focused capabilities like Learn Live and grounded health answers. Microsoft frames this as human‑centered AI that is opt‑in and permissioned.
The consequence is industry convergence: major vendors now view the browser less as a neutral renderer of content and more as a place to host agentic systems that can summarize, act, and remember context across sessions. That shift has immediate product, security, privacy and business-model implications for users, publishers, and enterprise administrators.
Security audits and community reporting have also flagged risks with third‑party AI browsers — for example, independent analyses raised concerns about Comet’s attack surface and behavior in certain contexts. Those findings haven’t stalled adoption but they underscore the security tradeoffs inherent to agentic browsers.
In practical terms, this will accelerate both adoption and scrutiny. Users and IT teams should treat agentic browsers with cautious optimism: the potential for productivity gains is real, but so are privacy and security tradeoffs that require deliberate configuration and governance.
This is a competitive sprint that will define browsing for the next generation: expect frequent updates, rapid policy and UI iterations, and an ongoing debate over how to balance convenience with control. For now, the safe path is clear — opt in deliberately, verify outputs when stakes are high, and keep connectors and memories under tight control.
Microsoft’s Copilot Fall release and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas together make one thing obvious: AI browsing is no longer a novelty. The browser has become the front line of the next interface revolution — and how vendors design defaults, permission flows, and agent safeguards will determine whether that revolution is empowering or problematic for everyday users.
Source: Tom's Guide https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/the-ch...pycat-why-ai-browsers-are-the-next-big-thing/
Background / Overview
The last week has seen a concentrated burst of activity in the browser/assistant space. OpenAI released ChatGPT Atlas, a dedicated browser with a persistent ChatGPT sidecar and an agent mode that can browse and act on behalf of users in preview for paid tiers. Atlas launched first for macOS and is positioned as a way to make ChatGPT the central interface for web tasks and research. Microsoft followed two days later with a major Copilot update — a bundled “Fall release” that introduces 12 headline features aimed at making Copilot more personal, more social, and more capable of acting across your apps and tabs. Highlights include shared group sessions for up to 32 participants, improved memory and connectors to services such as OneDrive, Outlook, Gmail and Google Drive, a visible avatar called Mico, and new education and health-focused capabilities like Learn Live and grounded health answers. Microsoft frames this as human‑centered AI that is opt‑in and permissioned.
The consequence is industry convergence: major vendors now view the browser less as a neutral renderer of content and more as a place to host agentic systems that can summarize, act, and remember context across sessions. That shift has immediate product, security, privacy and business-model implications for users, publishers, and enterprise administrators.
What Microsoft announced: the Copilot Fall release
Microsoft’s official blog frames the updates as a single coherent push toward an assistant that supports people, projects and relationships. The package includes a dozen new consumer-facing features; beneath the list sits a larger architectural push to embed Copilot across Windows, Microsoft 365, and Edge.Headline features
- Copilot Groups — shared AI sessions where up to 32 people can join a single Copilot chat to brainstorm, co-write, vote and split tasks. Sessions are link‑based and intended for friends, classmates, or small teams.
- Mico — an optional animated, non‑photoreal avatar that emotes, changes color, and acts as a visual anchor during voice interactions. Microsoft positions Mico as intentionally playful and toggleable.
- Memory & Personalization — long‑term, user‑managed memory that can store personal facts, project context, and preferences; users get UI to view, edit, and delete memories.
- Connectors — opt‑in connections to OneDrive, Outlook, Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar so Copilot can reason across multiple personal accounts when authorized.
- Copilot in Edge: Actions & Journeys — agentic browser actions that can, with permission, reason across open tabs, summarize and compare pages, fill forms, and even execute multi‑step tasks; Journeys surface past browsing sessions as resumable storylines.
- Health features — Copilot’s health answering pathways will reference vetted sources (Microsoft cites Harvard Health) and include flows to help find clinicians based on preferences and location (U.S.-only at launch).
- Learn Live — a voice‑enabled, Socratic tutor that guides learning with questions, visuals and interactive whiteboards rather than simply providing answers.
Why these choices matter
Microsoft is playing to its strengths: tight Windows distribution, deep Microsoft 365 integrations, and enterprise identity. By turning Edge into a mode rather than a brand‑new product, Microsoft can surface agentic features to billions of Windows devices without forcing users to switch browsers. That integration is a strategic advantage in productivity workflows where pulling data from Outlook, OneDrive and Teams matters.What OpenAI launched: ChatGPT Atlas
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas follows a different path: build an opinionated browser that centers ChatGPT as the persistent companion. Atlas includes a docked ChatGPT sidebar, built‑in agent capabilities (Agent Mode), optional browser memories, and privacy toggles that emphasize user control.Atlas core capabilities
- Persistent ChatGPT sidecar — a ChatGPT pane that can summarize, analyze, compare and rewrite content on any page without copying and pasting.
- Agent Mode — a browser‑native agent that can open tabs, click and perform multi‑step tasks (e.g., compile a shopping cart or research and book travel) in preview for Plus, Pro and Business tiers. OpenAI allows agents to run in logged‑out mode to reduce exposure to private accounts.
- Browser Memories — optional, user‑controlled memories that let Atlas recall past activity for continuity; OpenAI says browsing activity is not used to train models by default.
- Platform rollout — Atlas launched on macOS first, with Windows, iOS and Android versions promised soon. Agent Mode availability is tiered by subscription.
How Copilot and Atlas line up: features, defaults and product instincts
At a high level both products converge on the same experience model: a persistent assistant that can observe page context, store memory, and act on the user’s behalf when permitted. The differences come down to distribution, ecosystem ties, and defaults.Sidecar & UI
- Atlas: split/docked sidecar built around ChatGPT’s existing product flows. Designed to be the browser.
- Copilot: Edge Mode — a toggle that converts Edge into an AI‑first browsing surface that leverages Windows hooks and Microsoft 365 context.
Agentic capabilities
- Both offer multi‑step agent automations (Agent Mode vs Copilot Actions). Both vendors explicitly warn about the security surface area of agents and provide permission controls. OpenAI highlights "logged‑out" agent execution to limit exposure; Microsoft emphasises staged rollout and enterprise governance.
Memory & privacy
- Both Atlas and Copilot support persistent memories with user controls and per‑site toggles. The practical difference will be defaults and visibility: whether memories are opt‑in or nudged into activation. The real privacy story will be UI design and administrative defaults in enterprise environments.
Integration & data access
- Microsoft can leverage Outlook, OneDrive and enterprise identity to provide cross‑app actions without extra sign‑ins. OpenAI relies on ChatGPT account integration and lets users import bookmarks/passwords — but it lacks Microsoft’s OS-level hooks. The tradeoff: Microsoft gains tighter productivity integration; OpenAI bets on a superior conversational model and a clean, ChatGPT‑native experience.
The broader field: Perplexity, Opera and the AI browser surge
OpenAI and Microsoft aren’t alone. Perplexity launched its Comet browser earlier this year and has rapidly iterated on agent and assistant features; other players include Opera, The Browser Company (Dia) and Google incrementally adding Gemini features into Chrome. Perplexity’s Comet emphasizes an AI sidecar and background assistant features that can perform tasks and summarize pages.Security audits and community reporting have also flagged risks with third‑party AI browsers — for example, independent analyses raised concerns about Comet’s attack surface and behavior in certain contexts. Those findings haven’t stalled adoption but they underscore the security tradeoffs inherent to agentic browsers.
Risks, trade‑offs and governance (what to worry about)
Turning the browser into an agentic assistant brings immediate benefits — frictionless task completion, cross‑site synthesis, and persistent context. It also amplifies classic AI failure modes and creates new governance challenges.1) Agentic risk: actions that do things for you
Agents that open tabs, click and submit forms raise the possibility of unintended or malicious actions:- Prompt‑injection and deceptive pages can try to trick agents into executing harmful actions.
- Agents operating while logged into sensitive accounts may inadvertently expose data or complete unwanted transactions.
Both OpenAI and Microsoft warn about these risks and introduce guards (confirmation dialogs, logged‑out modes, red‑teamed protections), but no system can eliminate the risk entirely. Users and admins must treat agentic automation as a powerful tool that needs explicit boundaries.
2) Privacy and data exposure
Persistent memories and wide connector permissions create concentrated data flows. The key vectors:- What’s stored in memory and whether it syncs across devices.
- Whether browsing context is retained or used to personalize answers.
- How connectors (Gmail, OneDrive, etc.) are authorized and audited.
Microsoft and OpenAI emphasize opt‑in settings and controls, but a product’s default behavior often determines real exposure. Enterprise policies, admin controls, and clear UI indicators are essential.
3) Hallucinations and sourcing
AI assistants can confidently fabricate facts. Microsoft’s update includes grounding for health answers (e.g., Harvard Health citations) and Copilot Search that mixes cited AI answers with traditional links. Still, critical domains (medical, legal, financial) require human verification. Both vendors recommend verifying important facts with authoritative sources.4) Security vulnerabilities
Third‑party audits of early AI browsers have found attack vectors that could allow malicious pages to trigger unsafe behavior. These are exacerbated when browsers automate interactions or execute DOM-based actions. Security teams should treat AI-enabled browsers as high‑risk components that need focused review and containment strategies.5) Platform and economic concentration
If agents reroute user flows away from publishers and toward assistants, the economics of the web change. Agents that complete purchases or summarize articles can reduce pageviews and advertising revenue, creating incentive conflicts between platforms, publishers and users. Regulators and the publishing industry will be watching closely.Practical guidance: how to approach these tools (for consumers and IT)
The shift to agentic AI browsing is fast; prudent handling minimizes downside while capturing upside.- Treat agentic features as opt‑in tools: Don’t enable agent modes or memory features until you understand their behavior and have adjusted privacy settings. Verify defaults in the product settings.
- Limit connectors: Only connect accounts you need and audit those connectors regularly. For work devices, coordinate with IT to ensure connectors comply with company policies.
- Use logged‑out modes for sensitive tasks: When using agents for shopping or booking, consider running agents in logged‑out mode or using throwaway accounts to reduce exposure. OpenAI explicitly suggests logged‑out agents for risky tasks.
- Verify critical answers: For health or legal guidance, use Copilot/Atlas as starting points and follow citations to authoritative sources before acting. Microsoft’s Copilot health flows refer to named institutions to ground results, but do not replace professional advice.
- For IT admins: audit and roll out gradually
- Start with pilot groups and defined use cases.
- Define connector policies and block or limit connectors by default.
- Educate employees on agent risk and safe prompts.
- Monitor logs and access patterns for anomalous agent behavior.
Strengths: what’s promising about this wave
- Productivity gains — tight integrations and agentic automations reduce friction between discovery and action: summaries become task items, research becomes brief outlines, and multi‑step tasks can be automated with confirmation.
- Better continuity — memories and Journeys help preserve context across sessions, saving time and reducing repetitive setup.
- New collaborative patterns — Copilot Groups and shared Imagine/Pages spaces open doors to real‑time co‑creation with generative content built in. This lowers the barrier for group projects and study sessions.
- Educational potential — voice‑enabled tutoring and interactive whiteboards (Learn Live) could be a meaningful step toward accessible, guided learning outside formal classrooms.
The downside and red flags
- Agentive hallucinations and mistaken actions — an assistant that acts can also do wrong things very quickly; relying on confirmation flows is necessary but not sufficient.
- Concentrated privacy risk — connector permissions plus memory create a single point where a compromised assistant could expose a lot of personal data. Defaults and discoverability of controls will determine real user risk.
- Security audit findings — independent audits of early AI browsers have found exploitable behaviors; agility in patching and transparent security practices will be essential.
- Regulatory and economic friction — publishers, regulators and advertisers may push back as assistants rewire how content and transactions flow on the web. This could change what’s free, what’s paid, and how content is surfaced.
Cross‑checking claims and verification
Major claims in both launches are corroborated by primary vendor posts and independent reporting:- Microsoft’s list of 12 features, Groups up to 32 people, Mico avatar, Learn Live, memory and connectors are documented in Microsoft’s Copilot blog and widely reported by outlets such as The Verge and Search Engine Journal. These are verifiable product claims published by Microsoft.
- OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas features and Agent Mode preview for paid tiers are detailed on OpenAI’s product page and confirmed by TechCrunch and The Verge coverage of the Atlas launch.
- Perplexity’s Comet browser timeline and features are independently reported by TechCrunch and The Verge; security concerns around Comet have been raised by technical audits reported in industry outlets. Those disparate signals make Comet’s case both demonstrative of the category and an early warning about implementation risks.
Final analysis: what this moment means
The recent announcements are not incremental feature drops; they mark a turning point in how major vendors imagine the web. The browser is being redefined from a passive viewport into a conversational, agentic environment where assistants can remember, summarize and act. Microsoft and OpenAI are offering parallel but distinct implementations: Microsoft’s advantage is distribution and Microsoft 365 integration; OpenAI’s is a ChatGPT‑native, model‑centric browsing surface. Startups like Perplexity have shown how rapidly new entrants can iterate and push the category forward — and where early implementations can expose security weaknesses.In practical terms, this will accelerate both adoption and scrutiny. Users and IT teams should treat agentic browsers with cautious optimism: the potential for productivity gains is real, but so are privacy and security tradeoffs that require deliberate configuration and governance.
This is a competitive sprint that will define browsing for the next generation: expect frequent updates, rapid policy and UI iterations, and an ongoing debate over how to balance convenience with control. For now, the safe path is clear — opt in deliberately, verify outputs when stakes are high, and keep connectors and memories under tight control.
Microsoft’s Copilot Fall release and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas together make one thing obvious: AI browsing is no longer a novelty. The browser has become the front line of the next interface revolution — and how vendors design defaults, permission flows, and agent safeguards will determine whether that revolution is empowering or problematic for everyday users.
Source: Tom's Guide https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/the-ch...pycat-why-ai-browsers-are-the-next-big-thing/
