Recently OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a browser that brings ChatGPT to the web to help you search, suggest, and complete tasks in context. But how do you turn a chat model into a real browser co-pilot? The key answer is a new architectural layer called OWL (OpenAI’s Web Layer).
What is OWL and why does it matter?
OWL is the way Atlas integrates Chromium without merging it into the main app. Instead of running the entire browser engine in the same process as the interface, OpenAI pulls the Chromium process into an isolated service (the OWL Host) and keeps the app (the OWL Client) in a separate process.
So what does that mean for you as a user? Less waiting when you open the browser, fewer freezes when a page gets heavy, and a more fluid native interface with modern animations. For the team, it means developing and testing faster without having to compile Chromium every time.
