Two days after OpenAI’s Atlas, Microsoft re-launches a nearly identical AI browser (techcrunch.com)

Microsoft rolled out a major update to its Edge browser this week, introducing "Copilot Mode" — an AI-driven, persistent assistant that follows users as they browse. Announced by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, Copilot can, with user permission, read and reason over open tabs, summarize and compare content, and perform actions like booking hotels or filling forms. The feature integrates the assistant into a new-tab experience (rather than a split-screen), exposing a ride-along UI that blends chat-driven help with direct browser actions. The timing is striking: Copilot Mode arrived two days after OpenAI debuted its Atlas AI browser, and the two products look and behave very similarly. That convergence speaks less to originality than to a quickly coalescing UX pattern for AI browsers — and it underscores the real battleground: the underlying models and data pipelines. Differences in model choice, privacy controls, and back-end integrations (search, credentials, form-filling) will determine performance, safety, and trust. For developers and the AI community, the launches signal accelerating platform-level AI integration, growing pressure on standards for permissions, data handling, and UX expectations as assistants move from add-ons to core browser features.