ChatGPT can now control your Chrome tabs in Work mode

What's new

OpenAI announced in a post on X on October 15, 2026, that the ChatGPT extension for Chrome can now view the user's open tabs and control them. OpenAI describes it as bringing "computer use" to everyone who uses Chrome. Computer use means the AI clicks around and carries out tasks on the screen by itself.

There are two modes. In Chat mode, ChatGPT can look across your open tabs and gather information for an answer. In Work mode, which according to IBTimes UK is OpenAI's agent for longer tasks, ChatGPT can also send messages, fill out forms, download files and help organize and group your tabs.

The extension also works in Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi. Side chat, meaning a chat in a panel next to the web page, is available in Chrome, Edge, Brave and Vivaldi, but not in Opera.

What's smart about it

The smart part is that you don't have to copy content between tabs yourself. If you have five tabs open with deals, ChatGPT can read them and pull together the most important points. In Work mode, it can go a step further and handle tedious click-through tasks for you.

According to IBTimes UK, ChatGPT can work on sites where you are already logged in, such as email and work tools. That makes it useful for tasks where you would normally have to log in and click through yourself.

By default, ChatGPT asks for permission before interacting with a new site. You can adjust this with lists of sites it may and may not work on.

Setup: update the ChatGPT desktop app, go to Settings > Computer Use, choose your browser and install the extension. Then start a Work or Codex conversation and mention the browser with @. According to Business Today, browser control requires the desktop app.

Cheaper or better?

Pricing is not stated in the sources. According to OpenAI's post, the extension is available to all ChatGPT plans, but it is not clear whether tab control in Work mode applies to all plans. It is also unclear whether the feature is available in Denmark and the EU.

Against the competition: Google's Gemini in Chrome can write summaries, compare across tabs and connect with Gmail, Maps and Calendar. Its Auto Browse, which can handle things like shopping carts and reservations, is limited to subscribers of Google AI Pro and Ultra, in the US and India, in English. Anthropic already opened Claude for Chrome as a research preview in August 2025.

There are caveats, though. The extension asks for sweeping permissions, including reading and changing data on all websites, accessing the page's debugger and reading and changing browser history. OpenAI advises users to treat web page content, highlighted text and video transcripts as untrusted context and warns of elevated risk when browser history is accessed. According to the documentation, OpenAI does not store separate records of browser actions; data is saved only if it is part of the conversation's context. The Memories setting also applies to browser control. PPC Land points out that OpenAI has not published safety figures for prompt injection, meaning attempts to trick the AI with hidden instructions on a web page. PPC Land also writes that OpenAI has not disclosed confirmation steps, but that is partly contradicted by OpenAI's documentation, where ChatGPT by default asks for permission before working on a new site.

What it's good for

Chat mode suits research and comparison: find the best deal across tabs, or get an overview of several articles. Work mode suits routine tasks like filling out recurring forms, sending messages or fetching files and cleaning up a messy browser.

For businesses, you should think about the broad permissions before rolling out the extension, especially if employees are logged in to sensitive systems. It's a good idea to start with a few known sites on the allowlist.