Will We Need to Redesign the Entire Web?
ChatGPT is incredibly intuitive to use, and you don't even need to learn how to use it.
Compare that to most websites today. They are beautifully designed but complex to navigate. Think about your bank's website. Do you instantly know where to find your routing and account information? Or your wire transfer limits?
We're used to seeing clean and minimalistic UX and UI. Chrome is the default browser and works flawlessly. Google won the browser battle over Internet Explorer over a decade ago by developing a much better version of a browser.
Now ChatGPT wants to dethrone Google. It's the doorway to the internet, and everyone wants to control it. But only one or two companies can.
The recent launch of ChatGPT Apps got plenty of media coverage, but most people viewed it as the iPhone's App Store moment. The launch wasn't about a new web browser (probably intentionally), but it showed us what a future browser could look like. They previewed modules that embed right inside the ChatGPT window. It seems like a small thing, but it could be massive. It's the start of a browser built around natural language, not clicks.
Old vs New Approach to Browsing
Traditional web browsers are all about scrolling and clicking. You have to navigate a designer's web flow and follow the interface they built. Designers have to appeal to all kinds of users, which means they have to constantly compromise on the functionality they include or exclude. It makes websites standardized and impersonal.
OpenAI can give birth to conversational browsing that's responsive to your actual needs (prompts). Instead of clicking through menus and navigating through pages to find what you’re looking for, you just ask your browser directly for what you want.
A website built for a conversational browser can still have a home page, but it’ll also have interactive blocks that only show information that's relevant to you once you start prompting the home page. The website becomes a personalized page augmented with analytical capabilities.
Example: Coworking Booking Platform
Today, if you're a member of Resident Company Club and want to book a conference room, you have to go to our member portal, navigate to bookings, select available conference rooms, choose the day and time, and so forth. It may not sound too complicated, but compare it to the alternative path.
With the ChatGPT App, you just say: "Show me available conference rooms for 10 people at Resident on November 15th between 9am and 10am."
The AI connects to the Resident portal, fetches the right data instantly, and displays available conference rooms with pictures, prices, and description. Then you can either click and book or type in "book the first conference room."
Instead of using our portal's interface from start to finish, you're using ChatGPT’s conversational interface coupled with our member portal visual elements.
What This Means for Founders
A simple interface means massive adoption across all age groups and tech sophistication levels. The web is huge, but how many people find it intimidating, limiting their use? I don't know, but I bet it's not a small number.
I wouldn't compare 2025 to the 2008 iPhone App Store launch. Back then, companies maintained their web presence but also needed to build a mobile app to stay competitive. Today you may build a ChatGPT app to complement your current website and mobile app, but long term it may actually replace your existing site once the ChatGPT browser replaces Chrome.
The ChatGPT browser doesn't exist yet and there's a lot of speculation in this post, but it's fun to think about these things. Maybe even useful.