AI browsers have exploded in popularity since ChatGPT came out in late 2022. However, while people have heard of some (ChatGPT Atlas, The Browser Company's Dia, or Perplexity's Comet), none of these have seen widespread adoption. Today, we'll explain what an AI browser is and why we think they haven't caught on yet.
What is an AI browser?
An AI browser is a web browser with artificial intelligence built in. You use it to visit websites just like Chrome or Safari, but it can also understand the pages you're on, and the best ones can take actions on those pages for you.
That covers a wide range. At the simple end, an AI browser can summarize an article or answer questions about the page in front of you. At the other end, you describe a task in plain English, like "find 50 VPs of Sales at Series B fintech companies and add them to a Google Sheet," and the browser clicks, types, and moves between websites until the job is done.
What sets it apart from opening ChatGPT or Claude in another tab is context and access. An AI browser sees what you see and is already logged in to your accounts, so it can work in your real email, CRM, and tools instead of just telling you what to do in them.
From assistants to agents: the spectrum of AI browsers
"AI browser" covers a huge range of products today. It helps to think of them on a spectrum, based on how much work they can actually take off your plate.
Level 1: Chat with your page
The simplest AI browsers add a chatbot to the sidebar. It can read the page you're on, summarize it, answer questions about it, or help you draft a reply. Gemini in Chrome and Copilot in Edge both started here.
This is useful, but you're still doing the work. The AI gives you information, and you take it from there.
Level 2: Short tasks you watch
The next step is an agent that can act on the page: click buttons, fill in forms, and move between a few sites. You can ask it to add something to your cart or book a table, and it will try.
This is where most of today's AI browsers sit, and it's also where many people try them once and stop. The tasks are short, so the time saved is small. And because the agent can get stuck or make a wrong click, you end up watching it work. When some of us were building Comet at Perplexity, even the best agents couldn't reliably add an event to a calendar.
Saving two minutes while you stare at the screen isn't enough reason to switch browsers. We think this is the main reason AI browsers haven't caught on yet.
Level 3: Long-running work you hand off
At the far end are agents you can hand real work to and walk away from. You describe the outcome you want, like "research every company that raised a Series A in climate tech this year and build me a list of their founders," and the agent works on its own across dozens of sites for as long as the job takes.
This is where Polar is built to live. We've seen it work on a single task for more than 15 hours, and you can run several tasks at the same time. That changes the math: instead of saving minutes, you get back hours of work from a few seconds of typing.
What an AI browser can actually do
Here are some real tasks people hand to Polar, from quick asks to jobs that run for hours. Each one links to a ready-made template you can try:
- Sales: Research prospects on LinkedIn and company websites, then build an outreach list with a note on why each person is a fit.
- Recruiting: Find engineers through their GitHub work and conference talks, then put each candidate and the evidence into a Google Sheet.
- Research: Catch up on a market you haven't followed in a month, with a short brief of what actually changed and links to every source.
- Competitive intel: Every Monday, check competitors' pricing pages and changelogs and report exactly what changed since last week.
- Ops: Sweep your website for broken links and missing images, and list each problem with the page it's on.
- Personal: Find a restaurant for an anniversary dinner, check real availability on OpenTable and Resy, and give you a ranked shortlist.
The common thread is work that takes many steps across many sites. It's the kind of task you know how to do but never have time for. One team using Polar told us it saves them more than 25 hours per person every week.
AI browser vs. a chatbot, extension, or automation tool
If you already use AI or automation tools, it's fair to ask what an AI browser adds.
vs. a chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude. A chatbot in a tab mostly gives you answers and advice. It can't see the apps you're logged into, so you still do the clicking, copying, and pasting. An AI browser does that part for you.
vs. an AI browser extension. Extensions add AI to a browser that was built for people. That works well for help on the page you're looking at. A browser built around an agent can go further: it can run tasks in their own windows in the background, several at a time, while you keep using your browser for something else.
vs. Zapier and other automation tools. Tools like Zapier connect apps through their APIs, and you have to set up each step in advance. They're great for fixed, high-volume jobs between apps that support them. An AI browser works on any website the way a person would, and you describe the job in words instead of building a workflow. That makes it a better fit for tasks that change each time or involve sites with no API.
Are AI browsers safe?
This is the right question to ask. An AI browser works while logged in as you, which is what makes it useful. It's also why you should know what it will and won't do on its own.
The main risks are an agent taking an action you didn't intend, like sending an email to the wrong person, and "prompt injection," where text hidden on a web page tries to trick the agent into doing something else. No AI browser is immune to these, so the safeguards matter.
Here's how Polar handles it:
- It asks before anything you can't undo. Polar stops and asks for your approval before it sends an email or message, makes a payment, or deletes something. Each send gets its own approval.
- It never sees your card number. At checkout, the browser fills in your saved card directly, so the card number never goes to the AI.
- Your browsing data stays on your computer. History, bookmarks, and cookies are stored on your device. Saved passwords sync between your devices, and they're encrypted.
- AI model providers don't keep your data. The model providers we use don't retain your data or train on it.
- You can watch any task. Every task shows a live view, so you can check in on what Polar is doing at any time.
A good habit with any AI browser is to start with low-stakes tasks, read what it's about to do before you approve it, and give it more as you learn how it works.
Popular AI browsers today
The landscape moves fast. Here's where the main options stand as of October 2026:
- Polar. Built for long-running work you hand off and walk away from: tasks that span dozens of sites and run for minutes or hours, several at a time. Available on Mac, with Windows in beta. Free to use, with paid plans if you need heavier usage.
- Perplexity Comet. Free on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, with a sidebar assistant and an agent mode. Strongest for research and answering questions across tabs.
- Dia. Made by The Browser Company, the team behind Arc, which Atlassian bought in 2025. Focused on AI help inside the work apps you already use.
- Google Chrome with Gemini. A Gemini sidebar built into Chrome. Its agent feature, "auto browse," is available to paid Google AI subscribers in the US.
- Microsoft Edge with Copilot. Copilot is built into Edge. Its agent feature, "Browse with Copilot," is limited to Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers in the US.
- ChatGPT Atlas. OpenAI shut down Atlas in August 2026 and moved its browsing features into the ChatGPT desktop app.
How to choose an AI browser
The right choice depends on what you want off your plate. A few questions to ask:
- Do you want answers or finished work? If you mostly want summaries and help on the page you're reading, a sidebar assistant is enough. If you want the work done, you need an agent.
- How long are your tasks? Booking a table takes minutes. Building a list of 200 leads takes hours. Make sure the browser can keep going without you.
- Does it work on the sites you use? Try it on your real tools, like your CRM, spreadsheets, and LinkedIn, not just a demo.
- Can you walk away? Check whether tasks run in the background, whether you can run several at once, and whether you can schedule them to repeat.
- What does it ask before acting? Look for clear approval steps before sends, payments, and deletions.
FAQ
Try Polar for free
Polar is free to download and use on Mac, with Windows in beta. If you run a lot of tasks, paid plans give you more usage.