There’s no break for AI — the past few weeks have seen major developments. One of the biggest has been the acceleration of AI browsers, with the announcement of ChatGPT Atlas, not the first of its kind, but certainly the buzziest, introducing new, more seamless ways to navigate online.
These browsers integrate AI assistants that deliver personalized, conversational interactions, covering everything from search to commerce. While many of these tools are still in development, their focus remains on making AI accessible to everyone and addressing current data vulnerability challenges.
Conversational commerce is set to be the next major leap once these technologies mature, with companies already announcing partnerships built on the new eCommerce protocols.
Meanwhile, the controversial surge of AI-generated content continues to flood social feeds, blurring the lines between what’s real and what’s not. Current labelling tactics are inconsistently applied or simply ineffective.
Read on for the latest updates…
1. AI browsers: ChatGPT Atlas, Microsoft Edge Copilot Mode and more
OpenAI has just made a major move with the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, its long-awaited AI browser built on Chromium. Atlas embeds ChatGPT directly into browsing, enabling it to navigate websites, perform tasks, and manage agentic workflows. It’s currently macOS only with other platforms coming soon, but clearly aims to challenge Google Chrome’s dominance, which recently began rolling out new AI features in the US. The race is heating up, with Perplexity’s Comet, Brave Leo and Microsoft Edge’s new Copilot Mode, launched in October, joining the competition.
Why it matters:
Whoever controls how we browse the web controls our data — and for years, that’s been Google. But AI-powered browsers like ChatGPT Atlas could pose a serious threat to Google Chrome’s dominance, reducing its access to user data and reshaping how people search and interact online. Perplexity’s Comet is a strong performer, though it doesn’t have ChatGPT’s level of recognition. These are still the very early days of AI browsers, but it will be interesting to see how they improve their features, especially by incorporating accessible and valuable AI agents, and how users adopt these new tools. For businesses, it’s becoming increasingly important to ensure content is transparent, structured, and machine-readable.
2. Vibes by Meta AI, Sora 2 and the rise of synthetic videos.
Meta has launched Vibes, an AI-powered short-video feed within the Meta AI app and on meta.ai, where users can generate, remix, and share AI-made clips that can also be cross-posted to Instagram and Facebook. The launch triggered a surge in Meta AI’s daily users, showing strong public appetite for AI-driven entertainment. Just days later, OpenAI unveiled Sora 2, its next-generation text-to-video platform redefining how digital content is created. Surpassing one million downloads faster than ChatGPT, Sora 2 doesn’t just generate video — it creates synchronised audio, dialogue, and realistic physics in a single step. Its new Cameos feature even lets users insert their own face and voice into any scene, from a football final to a fantasy film, marking the dawn of AI-generated stardom. While still invite-only and available mainly in the US and Canada, its rapid rise signals a new era, one where anyone can create, or become, anything on screen.
Why it matters:
These apps mark a clear shift toward AI-generated entertainment at scale, aiming to compete directly with TikTok and redefine how synthetic media drives engagement across social platforms — with Sora feeding videos into both Meta’s network and TikTok. Every clip on Sora’s feed is entirely artificial, nothing is filmed or real, and the real challenge emerges when such content spreads across mainstream platforms like Instagram or TikTok, where AI-generated tags can be removed or ignored, and users may not check a video’s provenance. This is where the line between creativity and deepfake deception begins to blur. Beyond copyright and consent concerns, these apps are sparking debates about authenticity, ownership, and truth in digital media. For brands, synthetic media offers vast creative potential but also new risks: declining originality, eroding trust, and the rise of “AI slop”: low-quality, repetitive content flooding feeds. The next frontier isn’t just who creates content, but whether audiences still believe in what they see.
3. OpenAI Turns ChatGPT into an App and Commerce Hub
OpenAI announced that developers can now build apps that work directly inside ChatGPT, turning it into a platform where users can access external services like Canva or Zillow (an online real estate marketplace in US) without leaving the chat. For example, you could ask Canva inside ChatGPT to design a poster and then continue the conversation to generate a matching presentation. With Zillow, users can search for homes, apply filters, and view results interactively within the chat. Other integrations like Spotify, Booking, Expedia, Shopify, Etsy, Coursera and Uber are also expected soon, allowing users to book, order, or browse content seamlessly through conversation. Walmart has now partnered with OpenAI to let customers shop directly through the chatbot using a new “Instant Checkout” feature. This means shoppers can chat with the AI, browse products, get recommendations, and complete purchases via Stripe, all without leaving the chat. PayPal has announced that it will be the first digital wallet to launch on ChatGPT next year, powering agentic payments within the platform.
Why it matters:
OpenAI is building the infrastructure that allows brands and apps to live within ChatGPT, enabling users to discover, compare, and complete purchases without ever leaving the chat. What started with integrations like Zillow in the U.S. could easily extend to platforms such as Zoopla or Rightmove in the UK — signalling that entire categories, from property search to retail and travel, are moving into conversational ecosystems. As ChatGPT becomes a universal interface, the way people interact with brands is being rewritten: research, recommendations, and transactions are all converging into a single, natural dialogue. For brands, this marks a fundamental shift, customer journeys will be defined by AI-powered conversations that blur the line between chat and commerce.
