HSBC said OpenAI’s (OPENAI) ChatGPT Atlas browser with agentic capabilities is a competitor to Google’s Chrome but its features are not unique, as the Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) unit highlighted similar capabilities for Chrome in a September blog post.
The firm maintained its Buy rating on Alphabet’s stock with a $285 price target.
The analysts said that OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman pointed out that the way in which people use the internet had now changed. The new browser allows users to chat with it, thus “removing years of complexity and clutter.” OpenAI views this as “the next iteration of the internet”.
The analysts noted that there are three special features of the ChatGPT Atlas browser — Chat is now always available; browser memory: the browser understands the user more and more as it is utilized; and Agentic abilities – ChatGPT can now complete tasks within the browser. Examples include booking restaurants and editing documents and emails.
However, the analysts added that the browser’s features are not unique. Atlas was shown to search a user’s history, summarize web-pages, and edit documents (specifically within Gmail and Google Docs).
“For us, the most impressive part of the webcast was the agentic feature. During the demonstration, for example, the browser was able to take control and order missing ingredients for a recipe. Gemini in Chrome can do similar tasks, according to the Google blogpost on 18 September 2025,” said the analysts.
The analysts said that given the four-month later release of Gemini versus ChatGPT and subsequent success of Gemini taking market share, they argue that Alphabet is likely happy to release second and then again take market share from the first-to-market generative AI product.
This is seen by Gemini roughly doubling its generative AI market share in the past 12 months at the expense of OpenAI, the analysts added.
“However, Google looks to have developed these capacities already, so perhaps the Atlas release is only likely to raise questions about the timeline for the wider release of Project Mariner from Google DeepMind,” the analysts noted.
The analysts said that Atlas is a direct competitor to Chrome. However, added that that ChatGPT currently has around 800 million users versus Chrome’s nearly 3 billion.
The analysts “expect the battle for query market share to be played out with Google keeping consumers in Chrome, through the capabilities already shown.”
Alphabet results are slated for Oct. 29 and the analysts expect several questions about the competing browser. However, the analysts noted that they retain their view that Alphabet is well placed to deal with market shocks given its ownership of Google DeepMind and deep pockets. The next potential catalyst for Alphabet is the third-quarter results, according to the analysts.
“This latest announcement from OpenAI does not change our investment thesis for Alphabet,” the analysts noted.