The browser, known as Atlas, has been released in an attempt to rival Google Chrome, and in doing so, become a “killer app” for one of Alphabet’s most lucrative businesses. But those who have had a chance to try it out say it’s still very early days.

Sky News spoke to several AI specialists after they took the browser for a spin. All of them agreed that one of the most “exciting” features currently feels “quite clunky.”

“One of the most exciting parts for me is this built-in AI browser comparison,” Dr Andrea Barbon from the University of St Gallen told Sky News. “It’s working in combination with ChatGPT to help you as you browse the web.”

The OpenAI browser features, currently in “OpenAI browser review” and available only to a small number of users, allows users to activate the agent, which then “takes control of your mouse or computer.”

But his attempts did not go well. “I tried it on a few websites, the workflows were a bit too complex and ChatGPT just couldn’t handle it, not at all,” he said. Maybe in future, once they release a working version.”

The response from Dr Ali, a research fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), was not much better. “OpenAI new product 2025 often struggled to get tasks done, it could take a long time, and at some point it would just get stuck. That was quite the opposite of what one would expect from AI right now, it actually felt primitive,” he told Sky News.

“Having said that, I was kind of amazed by the idea, because the feature itself is super cool and quite exciting.”

OpenAI has said its “agent mode” was still “in the early stages,” and “is an early experience that may make mistakes with complex workflows.”