Letting ChatGPT use your browser

What you'll end up with

ChatGPT in a side panel next to whatever you're looking at in Chrome. You ask it to do something, and it gets on with it in your browser: opening pages, clicking, typing, filling in forms and moving between tabs. It uses the logins you already have, so if you're signed in to a site, so is ChatGPT.

Who it's for, and what you need

Anyone who loses time to websites: reports you have to dig for, forms that ask for things you've already told someone, prices you have to check across five shops.

You need:

• ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business or Enterprise. Work, the mode that lets ChatGPT act in your browser, isn't included on Free or Go.
• Google Chrome on your computer.
• About 10 minutes.

What it costs: nothing on top of your plan. UK prices are in Setting up ChatGPT properly. Browsing jobs use more of your allowance than a normal chat.

Why it matters

A lot of dull admin happens in a browser, on sites that don't connect to anything else. Until recently, getting AI to help meant copying everything into a chat and copying the answer back out. Browser use skips that: you describe the job, and ChatGPT does the clicking.

It isn't quick. Some jobs take a few minutes. But you're not the one sitting there doing it.

The steps

1. Add ChatGPT to Chrome

1. Open the Chrome Web Store at chromewebstore.google.com and search for ChatGPT. Pick the one made by OpenAI.
2. Click Add to Chrome.

3. Chrome lists what the extension can do. Click Add extension.

A Welcome to ChatGPT for Chrome page opens with a short setup list.

2. Pin it and open the side panel

1. Click the puzzle-piece icon in Chrome's toolbar and click the pin next to ChatGPT, so its icon stays in the toolbar.

2. Click the ChatGPT icon, or Open sidebar on the welcome page. The side panel opens on the right.
3. Sign in with your ChatGPT account if it asks.

3. Switch to Work

At the top of the side panel there's a switch between Chat and Work. Chat answers questions about the page you're on. Work is the one that can click, type and fill in forms for you, so select it.

4. Ask it to do something

Go to the site you want to work on, type what you want in the panel, and press enter. Plain English is fine. You don't need special wording, because ChatGPT works out what you mean.

The first time it works on a site, it asks for permission. Choose Allow for this site for sites you'll use again, or Allow once.

ChatGPT checks with you before anything that matters, such as submitting your details, booking or paying, so you don't need to say that in your request.

Things to try

Once it's set up, try it on the browser jobs you put off. Plain requests work fine. A few ideas:

• Find a figure in your accounting software: "What was our turnover for October?"
• Get a car insurance quote on a comparison site using the policy you already have.
• Find the best price for something across different shops, in your size or spec.
• Fill in a long form using details from a document or another site you're signed in to.
• Pull numbers off a dashboard that has no export button and put them in a table.
• Check your own website for out-of-date pages, old prices and broken links.
• List the newsletters and promotional emails in your inbox, grouped by sender.
• Compare suppliers, venues or products open in several tabs.

Check it worked

1. Click the ChatGPT icon in the toolbar. The side panel should open, signed in, with the Chat / Work switch at the top.
2. On any site, switch to Work and ask: Summarise this page in three bullet points. ChatGPT should ask for permission to use the site, then answer.

If it goes wrong

There's no Work option. Work needs Plus, Pro, Business or Enterprise. Check you're signed in to the right account.

There's no ChatGPT icon in the toolbar. Click the puzzle-piece icon and pin ChatGPT. If it isn't listed, the extension didn't install. Go back to step 1.

It stops at a login or a CAPTCHA. Do that bit yourself, then tell it to carry on.

It's slow. It is slower than doing it yourself. Start the job, get on with something else, and come back.

It goes to a site you didn't expect. Stop it and ask again, naming the site you want it to use.

Next steps

If you use Claude too, it can do the same: Letting Claude use your browser.

If there's a browser job you hand to ChatGPT every week, it may be worth building properly. We build tools that do it.

The short version

1. Add ChatGPT from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Pin the extension and open the side panel.
3. Switch from Chat to Work.
4. Go to the site, say what you want, and let it get on with it.