Browsers built on artificial intelligence could transform how
users interact with the internet, much like applications shaped the mobile web.
That could make AI browsers a killer app.
The AI community isn’t ignoring that potential. Perplexity
has released an invite-only beta of its AI browser called Comet, and OpenAI is
also working on a browser. Then there are other native-AI browsers, like Dia.
In a recent interview with Alex Heath, of The Verge, Perplexity CEO
Aravind Srinivas maintained that what people want from agentic AI is an
interface that the agent and the human can both operate in the same manner.
They want seamless logins, easy-to-use client-side data, natural control, and
minimal damage if something doesn’t work.
“What is that environment in which this can be done in the
most straightforward way without creating virtual servers with all your logins
and having users worry about privacy and stuff like that?” he asked. “It’s the
browser.”
AI browsers have the potential to work really well for consumers
who are already comfortable using AI tools, noted Brian Jackson, principal
research director at the Info-Tech Research Group, an IT research and advisory firm in
London, Ontario, Canada. “Think back to when Google launched Chrome,” he told
TechNewsWorld. “What was their big innovation? Turning the address bar into a
search bar, which naturally pushed Google search to the center of the browser
experience.”
“OpenAI and Perplexity are taking a similar route, but with
AI answers and assistance as the main feature,” he said. “For people already
using these tools to search the web, manage tasks, or support their workflow,
that kind of integration could be a big draw.”
Why Browsers May Be AI’s Killer App
The browser is the killer app for AI because it’s the front
door to the internet, asserted Pedro David Espinoza, founder and CEO of PDE Ventures, a
venture capital firm in Miramar, Fla. “It’s how billions of people explore the
world,” he told TechNewsWorld. “If you inject AI directly into that experience,
you’re not just changing a product, you’re rewriting how we access knowledge. A
browser with AI becomes your thinking partner, not just a search bar.”
The browser already sits at the center of daily work, so
embedding a language model there turns every tab, form field, and cookie into
structured context that the AI agent can act on immediately, explained Nic
Adams, co-founder and CEO of 0rcus, a
cybersecurity company in Indianapolis.
“Users keep their familiar address bar while gaining a
semantic command line that can read, summarize, compare, translate, and even
transact across open pages without copy and paste gymnastics,” he told
TechNewsWorld.
“So many people used to think AI would live in these super
fancy enterprise tools,” added Joe Z, co-founder and CTO of DeAgentAI, a platform for
deploying AI models for specialized applications, headquartered in Singapore.
“But the browser? It’s the one thing everyone touches, all day.”
“You layer AI on top of that, suddenly you’ve got this
universal control panel for everything, and not just Google search levels of
useful,” he told TechNewsWorld. “I’m talking actual task automation,
personalization, real results.”
These AI browsers aim to reduce friction, observed Ross
Rubin, the principal analyst at Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New
York City. “Just as visiting many information sources has been circumvented by
AI, with an AI browser, many of the transaction sources may be circumvented as
well,” he told TechNewsWorld.
Rendering Web Financially Non-Viable
Rubin noted that the AI browser could supplant web pages as
the primary front end to the internet.
“There may be some brands where you just enjoy the experience
of using their website so much that it will remain a destination for you,” he
said, “but that sounds like the argument that people will continue to buy
newspapers because they like the feel of the media in their hands. That’s true,
but over time, that becomes more an exception than the rule.”
AI is already affecting the web, and AI-powered browsers
could further amplify that impact. “AI is harvesting information off websites
that users then don’t visit, resulting in a sharp decline in both advertising
revenue and curated marketing,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal
analyst with the Enderle Group,
an advisory services firm, in Bend, Ore.
“In effect, they could make much of the existing web financially
non-viable,” he told TechNewsWorld.
Large language models (LLMs) are having a massive impact on
search, maintained Ben Colman, co-founder and CEO of Reality Defender,
a deepfake and AI-generated media detection company, in New York City.
“Ask anyone on our team when the last time they used a search
engine to answer a question versus put the same question into an LLM for an
answer. Most will indicate that the latter is now a reflex, while the former
seems rather dated,” he told TechNewsWorld.
“I think that AI makes the browsing experience much more
bespoke, targeted, and quicker, or more efficient, but the old guards of the
internet are noticeably worried because it upends the norms they set already,”
he said.
“Controlling browsers will allow AI companies to create a
curated and personalized web experience for each user,” added Nick Davidov,
co-founder and managing partner with Davidovs VC, a venture capital company headquartered in Los
Altos Hills, Calif.
“Ultimately,” he told TechNewsWorld, “that will lead to an AI
operating system for each person that knows them and can do things for them.”
Threat to Browser Leaders?
Major players in the browser market could find their shares
slipping if an AI browser makes everyday browsing faster, easier, and more
helpful, contended Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research,
in Las Vegas. “Loyalty fades fast when convenience is redefined,” he told
TechNewsWorld.
He added that AI browser adoption would especially be
accelerated if Google were forced to divest itself of its Chrome browser by the
federal courts. “It could blow the market doors wide open,” he said. “Without
Chrome’s dominant grip, newer AI-first browsers might finally get the oxygen
they need to compete and innovate faster. Ironically, Google losing Chrome
might accelerate the next big wave of browsing.”
AI is threatening more than just the major players’ browsers,
Enderle argued. “Virtually all desktop apps are at risk because a fully trained
AI browser could provide similar or better functionality than a dedicated app,”
he said.
However, Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a market research
firm in San Francisco, cautioned about discounting the power of inertia.
“There’s a lot of inertia around Chrome usage,” he told TechNewsWorld. “It’s
not a foregone conclusion that people will try a new browser. All your settings
and passwords are remembered in your existing browser. That’s a powerful
disincentive to switch. The features will need to be pretty compelling.”
Sites Should Build Their Own AI
The discussion about AI browsers misses a key point, argued
Dev Nag, CEO and founder of QueryPal, a customer support chatbot, in San Francisco. That
point is that AI is going to flip the power dynamic between search and
websites. “Smart publishers and product owners are realizing they can become AI
providers rather than AI victims,” he told TechNewsWorld.
“Google already commoditized content with their instant
answers in search results, and site owners are going to make sure that their
apps don’t get commoditized by AI browsers in the same way,” he said. “Instead
of Comet or Chrome’s AI using your app, serving it up without attribution,
sites will run their own AI assistant that knows their inventory, their brand
voice, and their business goals.”
“The key move here is that site owners can offer all the
conveniences users expect from AI browsers while keeping customers on their
properties and avoiding the biggest risks, like price comparisons and complete
disintermediation,” he continued.
“When a visitor asks about product comparisons or needs help
navigating complex documentation, their custom AI will respond instantly,
trained specifically on their content and optimized for their conversion and
business goals.”
“What makes this approach so powerful is that it turns the
commoditization threat into a competitive advantage,” Nag contended. “While AI
browsers try to intermediate between users and websites, sites can build AI
experiences so compelling that users prefer going direct — just like Amazon.com
still receives far more direct traffic than Google Shopping.”
With built-in AI, a website or web application can perform
AI-powered tasks for users, without needing to deploy, manage, or self-host AI
models, he maintained. “Instead of fighting AI browsers for traffic, sites
become AI-powered destinations that offer superior, contextualized
experiences,” he said. “Every interaction, prediction, or response will be
built around their audience’s unique needs.”
“It’s aikido for the web,” he added, “using the momentum of
the AI revolution to strengthen rather than weaken the relationship between
sites and their users.”
