SAN FRANCISCO, California: OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, an artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a move that directly challenges Google Chrome's dominance and expands OpenAI's reach into users' daily internet habits.

The new browser is OpenAI's boldest step yet to extend ChatGPT beyond conversation, letting users browse, search, and even complete tasks online through AI-driven automation. It also gives OpenAI a new source of consumer data that could deepen its rivalry with Google.

Shares of Alphabet, which owns Chrome, slipped 1.8 percent in afternoon trading.

Atlas enters a crowded and fast-growing field of AI-native browsers, including Perplexity's Comet, Brave's AI-integrated browser, and Opera's Neon. All of these browsers use generative AI to summarize pages, autofill forms, or write code.

Atlas features a ChatGPT sidebar that can summarize pages, compare products, or analyze website data. In "agent mode," available to paid users, ChatGPT can act on behalf of the user, for example, researching vacation spots, comparing flights, and completing bookings without human input.

In a live demo, OpenAI developers showed how ChatGPT could locate a recipe online and automatically buy ingredients via Instacart, adding them to a cart in minutes.

The browser is initially available on Apple's macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions coming soon, OpenAI said.

Led by CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI disrupted the tech industry with ChatGPT's debut in 2022. As competition intensifies from Google and startup Anthropic, it is now looking for growth beyond the chatbot itself.

Google, meanwhile, has been racing to evolve its own products for the AI era of search. Chrome now includes Gemini, Google's flagship AI model, which can summarize results or provide chatbot-style responses.

Last month, a federal judge ruled Google can continue paying partners to promote its search engine, rejecting arguments that Chrome's dominance was anticompetitive. Judge Amit Mehta cited Big Tech's heavy investment in generative AI as proof that traditional search faces new competitive threats.

Despite that ruling, Chrome remains the world's top browser, with a 71.9 percent market share in September, according to StatCounter.

Analysts say OpenAI's foray into web browsing could eventually put it on a collision course with Google's core ad business.

"Integrating chat into a browser is a precursor for OpenAI starting to sell ads, which it has yet to do so far," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. "Once OpenAI starts selling ads, it could take a significant part of search advertising share from Google, which controls about 90 percent of that market."