I need to tell you about something that’s going to change how you work.

Not in five years. Not “someday.” Right now.

It’s called an AI browser agent. And once you understand what it is, you won’t be able to unsee it.

The Moment Everything Clicked

Let me take you back to when I first got it.

I was drafting an email. Nothing special — just a reply to a client. I had ChatGPT open in another tab, doing what I always did: copying the email thread, pasting it in, explaining the context, getting a draft, copying it back.

Then I stopped.

I looked at my screen. Two tabs. One with the email I was trying to reply to. One with an AI that couldn’t see the email.

And I thought: Why am I the middleman here?

Why am I copying and pasting? Why am I explaining context that’s literally right there on my screen? Why is the AI blind to what I’m looking at?

That’s when I discovered browser agents. And everything changed.

What We’ve Been Missing

Here’s the thing nobody talks about:

Your work lives in your browser.

Think about it. Where’s your email? Browser. Your CRM? Browser. LinkedIn? Browser. Google Docs, Notion, Slack, your company’s internal tools? All browser.

The browser isn’t where work moved to. It’s where work has been living all along.

And yet, when we want AI help, we leave. We go to ChatGPT or Claude in another window. We copy context out of our browser, paste it into AI, get an answer, and paste it back. Unlike ChatGPT, which is blind to your browser, browser agents work where you work.

We’ve been treating AI like it lives in a different building. When it should be sitting right next to us.

The Simple Truth

An AI browser agent is exactly what it sounds like:

AI that lives inside your browser and can see what you see.

Not in a separate tab. Not in a different app. Right there, in your browser, looking at the same page you’re looking at.

When you’re on an email, it sees the email. When you’re on LinkedIn, it sees the profile. When you’re filling out a form, it sees every field.

No copying. No pasting. No explaining.

It just knows.

Why This Changes Everything

I’m going to make a bold claim:

Browser agents are the most important development in AI productivity since ChatGPT itself.

Here’s why.

ChatGPT proved AI could think. It could write, analyze, explain, create. That was revolutionary.

But ChatGPT is blind. It only knows what you tell it. Every piece of context has to be manually transferred from your world to its world.

Browser agents give AI eyes.

They can see your screen. They can see the page you’re on. They can see the email you’re reading, the form you’re filling, the data you’re analyzing.

And because they can see, they can act. Click buttons. Fill fields. Navigate pages. Do the work, not just advise on it.

This isn’t an incremental improvement. It’s a category shift.

How It Actually Works

The technology is elegant:

The agent reads your current page — the text, the layout, the buttons, everything
Modern AI models have context windows large enough to understand the entire page
You tell it what you want
It decides what actions to take
It executes — clicking, typing, navigating
It observes the result and continues

The key insight: AI context windows finally got large enough to understand a full webpage. That’s what made this possible. Models like Claude, OpenAI 4.5, GPT-5.2, and Gemini Pro 3 can hold an entire page in their understanding.

Two Paths Forward

Right now, browser agents come in two forms:

Standalone AI browsers — entirely new browsers built with AI at the core. OpenAI’s Atlas. Perplexity’s Comet. You switch to their browser and get deep AI integration.

Browser extensions — AI that installs into your existing browser. You keep Chrome or Firefox or whatever you use. The AI just appears in your side panel.

I’ll be honest about my bias: I believe in extensions.

Why? Because you shouldn’t have to change your entire browser to get AI help. Your logins, your bookmarks, your extensions, your workflow — it’s all in your current browser. An extension meets you where you are.

But both paths lead somewhere important.

What You Can Do Today

Let me show you what’s possible right now. Not in theory. In practice. Get started with dassi in under 5 minutes.

Email: You’re looking at a thread. You say “draft a reply.” The AI reads the entire conversation — who said what, the tone, the history — and writes a response that fits. No copying.

LinkedIn: You’re on someone’s profile. You say “help me write a connection message.” The AI sees their headline, their experience, their posts, everything. The message it writes is actually personal because it saw the whole picture.

Research: You have five tabs open about a topic. You say “summarize what I’ve learned.” The AI reads all five pages and gives you a synthesis.

Forms: You’re staring at a tedious application. You say “fill this out.” The AI reads every field, understands what’s being asked, and enters information.

CRM: You just finished a call. You say “log this in Salesforce.” The AI navigates to the right record and updates it.

This is real. This works. Today.

The Privacy Question (Addressed Directly)

I know what you’re thinking. An AI that can see my screen? That sounds invasive.

You’re right to be cautious. I was too.

Here’s what I looked for before trusting any browser agent:

Can I use my own API keys? This means your data goes directly to the AI provider you choose — not through some startup’s servers.
What data is stored? Good agents don’t store your browsing history.
Can I control access? Can I disable it on banking sites? Healthcare portals?
Who processes what? Transparency matters.

The best browser agents answer these questions clearly. If one doesn’t, walk away. There are important security considerations between different AI agent approaches.

Privacy is solvable. But you have to choose tools that solve it.

What’s Coming

I’ll tell you what I see happening:

Consolidation. Google, Microsoft, OpenAI — they’re all building browser agents. The small players will either get acquired or find niches.

Multi-step automation. Right now, agents handle single tasks well. Soon: “Every morning, check my email, summarize priorities, draft responses to urgent items, and update my task list.” One command, entire workflow.

Team features. Shared automations. Audit logs. Enterprise controls. Browser agents are going enterprise.

Regulation. This much power will attract oversight. Data privacy, automated decision-making — expect new rules.

But here’s the thing: the core technology works. The trajectory is set. The only question is adoption speed.

The Real Question

I want to leave you with something to think about.

Every day, you do work that an AI browser agent could do for you. Copying and pasting. Filling forms. Drafting similar emails. Moving data between tabs. Repetitive, tedious, soul-draining busywork.

You do it because that’s how you’ve always done it. Because the tools weren’t there.

The tools are here now.

The question isn’t whether AI will work inside your browser. That’s happening regardless.

The question is whether you’ll be early — gaining hours back every week while others are still copying and pasting.

Or whether you’ll wait until everyone else has figured it out.

I know which side I’m on.

Get dassi in Chrome and see for yourself.