"But now, AI is shaking up the browser market, with companies beginning to incorporate new generative and agentic AI capabilities directly into the web navigation tool. That in turn is sparking a fierce new war for users, with Google Chrome, now enhanced with Google's AI model Gemini, fighting upstarts like Perplexity, with its Comet AI browser, and battered veterans of past browser fights, like Opera, trying to get their mojo back with AI enhancements too."
"For nearly two decades, the basic browsing experience, aside from a few minor improvements, remained largely unchanged. Users typed a url in the navigation bar, or typed a search query in that same space-a feature that Opera first pioneered but which was soon copied by Google-and the browser takes the user to that web address or a search results page, which displays a list of links. Click on a link and the browser takes you to that web page."
Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer battled early on, with Explorer prevailing, followed by a later competition that produced Google Chrome as the dominant browser with over 60% marketshare while Apple's Safari remained in the mid-teens. Companies are embedding generative and agentic AI directly into browsers, prompting renewed competition as Chrome (enhanced with Google's Gemini) faces newcomers like Perplexity's Comet and incumbents like Opera adding AI features. For nearly two decades browsing was mainly navigation via a URL or combined search/address bar leading to lists of links. The emerging model emphasizes browsers that answer questions and perform tasks such as booking travel or completing purchases.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]