RIP “Browsers”

2025-09-18

Richard MacManus just posted “Chrome Switches on AI: The Future of Browsing Begins Now” where he points out that what we think of today as “browsers” is undergoing a radical change. Here’s the lay of the land:

Microsoft launched “Copilot Mode” on Edge and promotes it as an “AI-powered browser.”
Mozilla is baking AI into Firefox
Atlassian is into browsers now with their acquisition of The Browser Company and its AI browser Dia (my computer autocorrected that to “Die” and I reluctantly changed it back).
AI-first companies like Perplexity are releasing their own AI browsers.
OpenAI hired ex-Chrome engineers and the rumor is they are building a browser.

Safari is notably absent from that list.

Browser logos for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge on a tombstone that says “RIP” (Safari is on the outside of the tombstone). To the right of that is a photo of a bunch of newborn babies with their faces covered by a bunch of AI browser logos like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Comet, and Dia.

This all leads Richard to ask:

One has to wonder if “browser” is even the right word for what products like Chrome and Edge are evolving into. We are moving further away from curiosity-driven exploration of the web — the modern browser is becoming an automaton, narrowing what we can discover and reducing the serendipity.

The Chrome folks don’t appear to be shying away from the fact that they’re keen on ~~killing~~ evolving this long-held definition of what a “browser” is. From their announcement:

This isn’t just about adding new features; it’s about fundamentally changing the nature of browsing

One of the examples they give is that of a student researching a topic for a paper with dozens of tabs:

Instead of spending hours jumping between sources and trying to connect the dots, your new AI browsing assistant — Gemini in Chrome — can do it for you.

Wait what? Jumping between sources and trying to connect dots is literally the work of research and learning. The paper is merely a proxy to evaluate the success of the work. Can you automate learning?

But I digress.

Look, I like browsers. No, I LOVE browsers.

But it does kinda feel like “browser” is undergoing a similar redefinition as “phone”.

“Phones” used to be these devices that allowed you to speak with other people who weren’t within earshot of you.

Now they do that and a million other things, like let you listen to music, watch videos, order pizza, transfer money, find love, rent a vacation home, be radicalized, purchase underwear, take photos, etc.

However, despite all those added features, we still call them “phones”.

Perhaps I need to start redefining what I mean when I say “browser”.