I recently heard rumors about OpenAI developing a custom browser. Initially, I was puzzled by this move. However, after using ChatGPT extensively, I had a revelation.

While using Gmail, I found myself repeatedly copy-pasting previous email history into ChatGPT to provide context for drafting new emails. This manual process highlighted a key limitation: ChatGPT currently exists as a standalone app or website, requiring users to manually feed it context. This is tedious and confines us to a chat box interface.

But what if OpenAI controlled the browser? Since we typically use browsers for most computer activities, a custom browser could seamlessly provide context to the chatbot. Imagine using Gmail within an OpenAI browser. Instead of manually pasting information, you could simply ask the browser to draft an email based on your current context, and it would do so effortlessly.

Seamless Integration and Potential Implementations

This realization led me to ponder how OpenAI could make this experience truly seamless. Would there be a persistent chat box that needs to be toggled? There are numerous potential implementations, and I struggled to envision the most effective one.

Currently, I create new chat sessions in ChatGPT for different tasks or workflows. However, if the browser maintained a history of all my interactions, it could guide me through tasks more fluidly. For example, I might use ChatGPT to draft an email to a professor.

Later, I might start a new chat to research that professor. With a context-aware browser, these tasks could be interwoven. After researching the professor using the browser’s integrated AI, I could then ask it to draft an email, and it would utilize the information gathered during the research phase.

The Browser as the Ultimate Personal Context

This made me consider the broader implications. When you use a computer, almost everything important happens within the browser. We explore, consume, and create content on the web. While operating systems like macOS and Windows exist, the browser is where most meaningful productivity and consumption occur.

Essentially, the browser represents the ultimate personal context. If a developer could create a large language model (LLM) that effectively utilizes this context seamlessly, perhaps with an infinite context window or an efficient Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system that handles memory integration, it would truly be a revolutionary AI assistant.

Instead of the current iterative process of providing context and refining responses within a chat interface, the browser, integrated with AI, would tailor itself to your needs based on your ongoing activities and history. This would be a significant leap beyond the current capabilities of AI assistants! A food for further thought.