After a day experimenting with Atlas, I still find the idea of an AI browser (and not just an AI-enhanced context menu inside a browser) a bit odd.
Using it also made me reflect on the bafflingly useless AI integrations in all the incumbent browsers (notably Chrome / Edge / Safari) - even though they could embed their own first-party AI (Gemini / Copilot / Siri š ) with ease.
This contrast provides a glimpse into the underlying product strategies of MS & Google (and to a lesser extent Apple) versus OpenAI and Anthropic the cultural beliefs shaping those strategies.
Google and Microsoft inherently believe they are the centre of your digital universe. This is because they own your email and core productivity tools (especially in a work / enterprise context) and in many cases, your device via Android and Windows which reinforces this belief.
Their ecosystems are designed for inward integration, not outward collaboration. They provide APIs for others to plug into them - but rarely integrate back outwards to others.
By contrast, OpenAI and Anthropic take a connective-tissue approach ā through skills, connectors, and APIs that interoperate with tools like M365, Google Workspace, Notion, and more.
They have no choice, as they canāt build the rest of the enterprise stack fast enough. But, it also makes great business sense because it allows them to leverage existing ecosystems and enable a lot of use cases it would take them years / decades to otherwise realise and keep their resources focussed on their core product.
Weāre watching two very different philosophies play out in market and itās not clear who wins here.
Can Anthropic / Open AI create enough of an ecosystem and creates enough value via leverage that their tooling āis just betterā than the offering from MS & Google? Itās too early to tell at this point.
Open AI releasing Atlas might be a warning shot to MS and Google. Or it might be a distraction as the value emerges from other parts of the ecosystem (eg agents behind the scenes). Either way, itās interesting to see the strategies manifest in new products at extreme pace.