OpenAI brings computing to Chrome with ChatGPT tab controls – Unite.AI

OpenAI announced on October 15, 2026 that its ChatGPT extension for Chrome can now examine a user’s open browser tabs, take control of those tabs to complete tasks, and organize and group tabs, extending its computer usage capabilities to an extension that the Chrome Web Store lists at 7,000,000 users. In a series of posts about X from its official ChatGPT account, the company said it is bringing “the power of computing to anyone who uses Chrome.”

In the announcement, OpenAI said that in Chat, the assistant can examine a user’s open tabs to gather information and make responses more helpful. In Work, OpenAI’s agent for longer, more complex tasks, ChatGPT can control Chrome tabs for tasks like sending messages, filling out forms, and downloading files. It can also help organize and group open tabs, the company said.

In a subsequent post, OpenAI said that using ChatGPT within a Chrome tab has received what it called a major update, bringing the full power of ChatGPT to the browser. A user’s entire ChatGPT history is present, OpenAI said, and users can ask questions in Chat or perform tasks in Work side by side with the site they’re on.

Sample suggestions and Store listing

In a third post, OpenAI listed example prompts for the updated extension. They include comparing three unfolded sofas in separate listings for size, material, delivery time, and return policy; ask for an explanation in plain English of the main argument of an article and supporting evidence; compare pricing pages with stated requirements; use an event brief to fill out a registration form by stopping before submitting; move vendors from open tabs to a comparison sheet with pricing, key features, and links to sources; compare the contractor’s services through the cards and draft an email to the chosen one; and fill out a dentist form in Chrome by adding the appointment to your work and personal calendars.

The extension’s Chrome Web Store listing, powered by OpenAI, shows version 1.26.1005.11759, updated on October 15, 2026, and reports 7,000,000 users. The listing states that the extension allows ChatGPT on desktop and web to insert context and act in tabs, with access to the user’s installed plugins, full conversation history, and local file system if connected. It states that ChatGPT can work inside the browser in the background without taking control of the active browsing session, and that ChatGPT will always ask for permission when referencing browser history and when downloading or uploading files.

Features listed on the store page include search on live, authenticated websites; creating and editing documents, spreadsheets, and slides; entering data into record systems such as timesheets, inventory, and content management systems; summarize and answer questions on any card; expense storage and bulk file and image downloads; test and validate websites; and organize and clean tabs. The list’s data management policies state that your data is not sold to third parties outside of approved use cases, is not used or transferred for purposes unrelated to the core functionality of the Extension, and is not used to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.

Configuration, permissions and stored data

OpenAI’s browser extension documentation says the extension works with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi from the ChatGPT desktop app, with side chat available in Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi but not in Opera. Setup is done through the Computer Usage section of the desktop app’s settings: Users install the extension from the browser store, confirm that the browser shows a Manage option, and select the browser with an @ mention in a ChatGPT Work or Codex chat. The documentation states that ChatGPT can read or act on sites where the user is already logged in, citing LinkedIn, Salesforce, Gmail, and internal tools as examples.

Documented browser features include mentioning open tabs to use them as context, inserting highlighted page text into a chat, right-clicking a page and selecting Ask ChatGPT, and asking questions about a YouTube video using its timestamped transcript when subtitles are available. Chats started in Side Chat appear in the ChatGPT app, and recent ChatGPT chats can be opened in Side Chat.

By default, the documentation states, ChatGPT asks before interacting with each new website, based on the site’s host. Users can choose Allow once, Allow for this site, Allow for all sites, or Deny, and can manage the allowlist and blocklist domains shared between supported browsers. The documentation labels Allow access to all sites and browser history as High Risk and states that history access is limited to the single request, with no Always Allow option.

Permission requests when installing Chrome for the extension may include reading and modifying data on all websites, browsing history on signed-in devices, bookmarks, downloads, notifications, tab groups, debugger access, and communicating with cooperating native applications. The documentation states that OpenAI does not keep a separate complete record of browser actions from the extension, storing browser activity only when it becomes part of the ChatGPT context, such as text read from a page, screenshots, tool calls, summaries, or messages. Computer usage follows the user’s Memories setting, and the documentation recommends treating page content as untrusted and avoiding sending secrets via browser activity unless requested and reviewed.

From Atlas to Extension

The update continues a transition documented in OpenAI’s ChatGPT release notes. On July 9, 2026, OpenAI said it would deprecate its Atlas browser, which was scheduled to stop working on August 9, 2026, and directed users seeking help browsing in Chrome to the ChatGPT Chrome extension or sidebar. On August 31, 2026, the release notes stated that the extension had been extended to Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi, noting that Opera supports tab mentions and browser control but not side chat.

OpenAI said the updated extension is available for all ChatGPT plans and can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.