OpenAI updated its ChatGPT extension for Google Chrome on October 15. It can now read several open tabs at once and carry out tasks in your browser, including filling in forms, sending messages and downloading files. You install it from the Chrome Web Store.
What can the ChatGPT Chrome extension do now?
Before this update, the extension was mostly a sidebar for chatting with ChatGPT without leaving the page you were on. Now it uses the context of your open tabs to give better answers. You can ask it to compare prices, products or features across stores sitting in different tabs, and it works from what is actually on those pages.
There are two modes. In chat mode, ChatGPT reviews your open tabs and pulls information from all of them. In work mode, it can send messages, fill in forms, download files, and group or reorder your tabs. OpenAI describes the update as “bringing the power of computer use to anyone who uses Chrome.”
The extension can also run in the background without taking over the browsing session you’re actively using, according to OpenAI’s description. Your full ChatGPT history is available in the sidebar, so you can keep chatting beside the site you’re visiting.
Which browsers and accounts does it work with?
Beyond Chrome, the extension supports Chromium-based browsers: Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi. The sidebar works in Chrome, Edge, Brave and Vivaldi, but not Opera. For the browser-control features, you also need the ChatGPT desktop app and a matching access setup, and some features depend on your account settings or work environment.
It’s not yet clear which ChatGPT plans include these features or whether usage limits apply, so open the extension and see what your account shows before you build a workflow around it.
What about privacy and permissions?
Access is not blanket. ChatGPT asks for your permission before it interacts with a new site, unless a permission already applies. It also asks you to confirm sensitive actions, such as viewing your browsing history or downloading and sending files.
One detail is worth knowing. OpenAI says it doesn’t keep a separate, complete log of everything the assistant does in your browser. But anything that enters ChatGPT’s context, such as text it reads, screenshots, tool calls or messages, becomes stored information. In practice, what the assistant sees can end up in your conversation history.
Pages where you’re signed in, like email or work platforms, make tasks easier but call for extra care about what you share.
Is it worth turning on? Safety tips
For low-risk jobs, like comparing three pairs of headphones across stores or tidying up ten messy tabs, this should save real time. For anything that involves money, health information or important accounts, check each step before you approve it.
A few habits help:
- Review the permissions you’ve granted regularly and remove ones you no longer use.
- Close banking, personal email and sensitive document tabs before you assign a batch task.
- Watch what the assistant does on screen, especially with forms and outgoing messages.
- Try the extension in a separate browser profile if you mix work and personal browsing.
Browser agents still make mistakes, and a wrong click in a form can have real consequences. If you want to understand why these models sometimes state wrong things with confidence, read our explainer on what a language model is. To see where the assistant is headed next, check out ChatGPT’s GPT-6 and its interactive answers.
What’s new in ChatGPT Live?
The same round of updates brought two new models to ChatGPT Live, the voice mode in the main app: GPT-Live-1.1 and GPT-Live-1.1 Quip, a smaller version. Voices now have more natural accents in several languages. New options include French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mexican Spanish and an English voice called Bubbie, inspired by a grandmother. Live also has a wider set of short phrases to signal when it is running a search.
