hi bud buds,
this past week, openai made waves by launching atlas, its ai web browser.
they’re not the first in this space:
in june 2025, the browser company announced a major company pivot from their popular browser arc to dia, an ai browser
perplexity started limited release of comet in july 2025
like other ai browsers, atlas is ~80% the same as the browser you likely use today (e.g. safari or chrome); you can browse the web and visit websites normally.
the two big differences:
1) there’s a collapsible chat window on the right-hand side, so you can ask questions about any page you’re on
chat window on the right hand side
(2) it can take actions on your behalf. for example, if you’re on nordstrom.com, you can say “look for white leather sneakers that resemble air force ones,” and it’ll move your mouse, apply filters, and open tabs with the best matches, all on its own.
over the past couple months, i’ve been using ai browsers like dia and comet exclusively to understand this new category. i’ve come away with two takeaways:
ai browsers feel only mildly useful: the biggest perk is saving the copy-paste step into chatgpt. instead, i can just highlight text and ask for a summary. convenient, yes, but not transformative. it saves seconds, not minutes.
ai browsers feel incredibly valuable for ai labs. by seeing everything you browse, openai gets complete visibility into your life, not just what you type into chatgpt. that 100x increase in context feels exceptionally valuable to creating more personalized, engaging chat experiences.
so the real question: can openai (or anyone) find a killer use case that bridges the gap between the two points above? until there’s a use case meaningfully better than “no more copy-pasting,” it’s hard to imagine most people switching from safari or chrome, no matter how valuable it is for the labs to own the browser layer.
have a great week, y’all. i love you.
- dj
last week’s biggest product releases
big news! huge!
openai released company knowledge for chatgpt, enabling search across workspace tools like slack and google drive. hear that…? it’s the sound of a million ai startups dying at once…
anthropic released claude for life sciences, an ai tool that accelerates research by helping with literature reviews, hypothesis generation, and data analysis. i really hope that ai can help us cure diseases like cancer and alzheimer’s!
samsung released galaxy xr headset, a $1,800 mixed-reality device competing head-on with apple’s vision pro, and setting the stage for future smart glasses launches
personal faves
spotify released venue follow, letting users follow venues for concert updates, event calendars, and announcements. awesome feature, feels like a big win for casual live music fans like myself 🙂
amazon is testing ai smart glasses for delivery drivers, enabling hands-free package scanning, navigation, and proof of delivery. love this use case; feels like an instant 2× productivity boost for drivers
microsoft released copilot group chats, bringing collaborative group chat features to its ai chat bot. fascinating shift, as chat interfaces have mostly been single-player until now. i bet chatgpt will launch group chats soon too as a result
x is testing pay-per-use pricing model for its api. when elon took over, apis were locked behind $5k+ monthly plans, effectively pricing out indie devs (like yours truly). thrilled to start hacking with x again soon
instagram released ai editing tools in stories, allowing users to modify photos and videos with text prompts (e.g. changing hair color, adding backgrounds). v bullish, as this feels like an infinitely flexible version of snapchat lenses, which have proven strong product market fit amongst the youths
nice job guys
amazon released help me decide, an ai shopping tool that evaluates whether a product fits your needs based on past search and shopping history. i could see this significantly boosting conversion rates, as it feels like having an omniscient store associate helping you shop virtually
anthropic released memory for claude, allowing its ai chatbot to remember past interactions for more personalized responses
x announced a marketplace for buying inactive handles, finally letting users buy long-abandoned usernames
openai announced character chameos in sora, letting users remix their pets into ai-generated videos. they also introduced basic video editing tools
tinder released face check, requiring new users to verify their identity with a video selfie to cut down on impersonation and fake accounts
datadog released updog, a free tool that shows live health statuses of major services like aws, cloudflare, and slack. epic name
youtube released likeness-detection technology, enabling creators to identify ai-generated content using their likeness and easily submit takedown requests
amazon re-launched its luna game-streaming service, featuring a collection of 25+ local multiplayer games
other llm news
adobe launched adobe ai foundry, enabling enterprises to create custom generative ai models for text, images, video, and 3d scenes
google re-launched ai studio’s "build" interface, a revamped user experience for building ai apps. it features an app gallery, model selector, and streamlined deployment to google cloud run.
anthropic released claude code for web and mobile, allowing developers to run parallel coding tasks in secure sandboxed environments from any device
idk tbh
airbnb released a social connections feature, letting users connect with fellow travelers (e.g. people you’ve shared an airbnb stay or experience with). seems awesome for highly extroverted travelers? personally, i never use airbnb experiences, and even if i did, i’m not sure why i would use this feature over simply exchanging whatsapp / instagram handles
apple released liquid glass tinted option, allowing users to adjust interface opacity for better readability. sad to see apple partially walking back liquid glass. i’ve written previously about my skepticism, but as an apple fan boy, i was hoping they knew something i didn’t
instagram released custom app icons for teens, offering playful options like neon and floral designs. this seems dumb, but i am profoundly out of touch with the youths
that’s it for this week; thanks for reading. if you enjoyed this issue, please consider sharing it with a friend so i can get rich and eat omakase sushi every night.
love, dj