Mastodawn

A great new piece by Anil Dash (@anildash) on the *shitshow* (my words) that is OpenAI's Atlas, and the dangers of anti-web technology in general:

https://www.anildash.com//2025/10/22/atlas-anti-web-browser/

I disagree with him, however, and fundamentally, about CLIs, but that is the *only* part of his piece I feel he gets wrong. I think he either doesn't like them (ie. a subjective taste thing) or simply doesn't understand their capabilities and culture enough. That is not uncommon, and its perfectly ok. He's a brilliant thinker and writer and we're lucky to have him crafting and sharing his essays with us so often!

On a related note, I've been privately sketching out some pieces about the power and pleasure and idealism of CLIs for several years, mostly as private WIPs. Seeing Mr. Dash get CLIs so wrong (cue the obligatory XKCD about seeing someone being wrong on the Internet -- the worst sin to a hyper-geek) has pushed me over the edge into deciding I should polish something up and share it too. About Terminals, CLIs, shells, REPLs, APIs and TUIs in general. I've been using them daily -- and building things out of them, and shipping -- for several decades. Ditto on GUIs. So... I have *thoughts* on it. :-) Backed by loads of observation and hands-on experiences.

#AI
#OpenAI
#Atlas
#AntiWeb
#AnilDash
#CLI

ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Anil Dash

Miguel Afonso Caetano Oct 30

"The web was designed without the concept of personal identity at all, and without any tracking system built in. It was designed for anybody to be able to create what they want, and even for anybody to be able to make their own web browser. Not long after its invention, people came up with ideas like cookies and made different systems for logging in, and then big companies started coming in and realized that if they could control the browser, they'd control all the users and the ways of making money. Ever since, there's been a long series of battles over privacy versus monetization, but there's been some small protection for users, who benefitted from those smart original design choices back at the birth of the web.

It's very clear that a lot of the new AI era is about dismantling the web's original design. The last few decades, where advertising was targeting people by their interests instead of directly by their actual identity, now sees AI companies trying to create an environment of complete surveillance. That requires a new Internet where there's no concept of consent for either users or those who create content and culture — everything is just raw materials, and all of us are fair game.

The most worrisome part is that Atlas looks so familiar, and feels so innocuous, that people will try it and mistake it for a familiar web browser just like the other tools that they've been using for years. But Atlas is a browser that actively fights against the web, and in doing so, it's fighting against the very idea that you should have control over what you see, where you go, and what watches you while you're there."

https://www.anildash.com//2025/10/22/atlas-anti-web-browser/

#AI #GenerativeAI #AIBrowser #OpenAI #ChatGPT #AIAgents #Atlas #Privacy #DataProtection #Surveillance #OpenWeb #AntiWeb #ChatGPTAtlas