Today, OpenAI unveiled Atlas, “built with ChatGPT at its core”. You can use Atlas to browse the web, with the option of opening a sidebar to summarise content, ask a question or perform a task like researching an itinerary for a trip.
Could it dethrone Chrome, which holds around two-thirds of the web browser market? Not immediately.
Atlas was only made available for Macs this morning. OpenAI promises Windows and mobile versions “soon”.
READ MORE: 24-year-old Kiwis raise nearly $10m for AI that automates common tasks
Goodger is, naturally, already effusive about his personal use of Atlas.
“I’m finding better deals online, interpreting my personal health data, understanding my kids’ homework and much more,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“With its built-in browser agent, Atlas can browse the web for you, including to your logged-in sites (if you choose) and it’s SUPER FAST.
“This is one of those ‘feel the AGI’ [artificial general intelligence] moments.
“Ask it to find all the ingredients for a recipe and load them into a shopping cart for you, ready to check out. Ask it for tips on how to write a better doc or use advanced features of your spreadsheets. Or even watch it play a web game!”
Yikes. I’ll do my own gaming, thanks. But it looks like Gemini and Chrome maker Google will be kept on its toes.
Goodger is one of a clutch of ex-pats driving artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives drawing global attention.
Others include Dave Ferguson at self-driving start-up Nuro, backed by billions from Uber and Nvidia, Nic Lane with Flower and Alex Kendall with the Microsoft and Nvidia-backed Wayve automotive AI in London.
2degrees under the bonnet as Genesis launches broadband
Genesis launched internet plans today, starting from $70 per month for a Fibre Start plan offering up to 100 megabits per second download speed and unlimited data.
You don’t have to be an electricity or gas customer with the gentailer. Hyperfibre and fixed wireless plans are coming soon.
Many of Genesis’ rivals are already in the market.
The most notable trends in the Commerce Commission’s latest annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report, released on June 30, is that “Mercury and Contact now rank fourth and fifth, respectively [in the urban broadband market], having doubled their market share from 6% to 13% over the past five years. These bundled providers represent one of the fastest-growing segments in the market”.
Genesis’ broadband is provided by 2degrees, which won a competitive tender to become the power company’s network partner.
Contact uses wholesale specialist Devoli behind the scenes, while Mercury uses a mix of local fibre firms plus Spark for fixed wireless where fibre is not available.
“Hats off to the Genesis team,” 2degrees chief executive Mark Callander said.
“They have taken our white-label software solution and integrated it seamlessly into their website and sales funnel.”
The arrangement forms part of a nuanced market, given 2degrees owns a small power retailer and offers broadband customers a power bundle.
2degrees also provisions Sky Broadband.
Earlier this decade, Jarden analysts predicted that with UFB fibre making it much easier for non-traditional players to enter the internet market, the big three telcos could see their biggest competition not from each other but new players like power companies and Sky (which in August reported a 34% annual increase in Sky Broadband customers to 50,000).
That seems to be coming to pass. But 2degrees can at least say it’s got a buck each way.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
