Two days after OpenAI’s Atlas, Microsoft relaunches a nearly identical AI browser

Microsoft on Thursday released a new batch of features for its AI assistant, including An ambitious project which builds artificial intelligence directly into one of its core products. More than a simple extension, Copilot mode in Microsoft’s Edge browser Microsoft’s long-hyped AI is an intelligent and flexible AI assistant in the browser category that follows you as you browse the web.

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleman even described the new product in those terms at the announcement. “Copilot Mode at Edge is evolving into an AI browser that’s your dynamic, intelligent companion,” Suleiman wrote in the announcement post. “With your permission, Copilot can view and reason about your open tabs, summarize and compare information, and even take actions like booking hotels or filling out forms.”

D Official launch Back in July for the Edge’s Copilot mode, when it rolled out with basic features like a search bar in new tabs and natural voice navigation. But the mod is opt-in and doesn’t get the attention you’d expect At Thursday’s event, Microsoft got more ambitious, introducing “Actions” that allow Copilot to fill out forms or book hotels, and “Journeys” that let Copilot trace connections between your open tabs. It’s not a huge change to the product, but it was enough to put the idea of ​​an AI browser at the center stage of the event.

The announcement comes just two days after a similar launch from OpenAI, which showcased its new Atlas browser. Of course, Copilot’s release is scheduled for a few weeks, and the new Copilot mod has probably been in development for months. Neither company invented the concept of an AI-assisted web browser. But the visual similarities between the two products are hard to ignore.

These two are very similar pictures. The Copilot for Edge background is a bit darker, there’s text instead of a logo, and the close/minimize buttons follow Windows convention rather than MacOS convention. Beyond that, CoPilot puts its “ride-along” function in a new tab instead of a split-screen … but that’s about it. It is almost the same product.

Part of the similarity is functional: people love clean browsers, and there are many ways to integrate a chatbot window into the “new tab” screen. For users, the main difference will come from the underlying model, so maybe a little facial similarity doesn’t make a big difference.

Browsers mostly look the same. But given the high stakes of the AI ​​race and the tense state of play between the two companies, it seems important that we get these two browsers in the same week.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the October 23rd event as the initial launch of Copilot for Edge. In fact, the feature was launched in July. TechCrunch regrets the error.