My experience with Atlas

I was naturally curious about what it is and how it works, so I went to test it. When I asked Atlas to order a bouquet of flowers, the system itself clicked on the first florist nearby, chose the most expensive option of fifty euros, automatically filled in my address via my Chrome profile, and proceeded to payment – without me confirming anything. Suddenly, OpenAI had my address and payment details.

A little later, I tried again, this time while looking at cars on Marktplaats. I asked Atlas to write a draft message to a seller. While I was briefly doing something else, Atlas navigated to Marktplaats on its own, found the car, wrote a message, and sent it – without my consent. It stated that I wanted to come by tomorrow for a viewing.

It felt strange. My screen was taken over, I handed over control, and AI took over. And that control isn't even the biggest concern – that is my privacy.

Privacy

Atlas processes everything I visit through OpenAI's servers. This means that my login details, customer data, emails, and even payment details can be read or temporarily stored. And that comes with major risks:

1. Vulnerable to hacks
   Malicious websites can make Atlas execute commands, such as retrieving customer data from open tabs.

2. Access to everything where I am logged in
   Atlas can read along in my email, CRM, or payment environment and shares that information with OpenAI.

3. Deletion doesn't really exist
   What I think I am deleting can still be stored or retrieved.

4. Private mode is a false sense of security
   Even in incognito, data is temporarily processed and sent via servers.

5. Risk of privacy violation
   Even using Atlas once while logged in can lead to personal or confidential information — such as passwords, customer data, or payment details — being shared unintentionally.

What I learned from this

Atlas shows how powerful – and at the same time dangerous – this technology is. AI is doing more and more for me, but that convenience comes at a price.

We need to be aware of what these tools do, what access they have, and what that means for our privacy. It may feel efficient when AI takes over work from you, but convenience is not always progress.

AI browsers like Atlas are not nearly mature enough yet to be used without supervision. Until then: stay curious, but be careful.