Today, OpenAI launched its new Atlas web browser in a surprise livestream. The show started with CEO Sam Altman himself, speaking directly to the audience.

“We think AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be,” Altman said. “In the same way that, for the previous way people used the internet, the URL bar and the search box were a great analogue, what we’re starting to see is that the chat experience and the web browser can be a quick analogue.”

It was an inspiring note, in the classic Steve Jobs mode. But even more important than Altman’s browser was the detritus he was sweeping aside to make room. It wasn’t just casting present-day browsers as old, but part of a whole package of goods that are about to be replaced by AI — as Altman put it, p

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