In the context of the Standard Model the mechanism believed to be responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking gives rise to a scalar particle known as the Higgs boson. The Higgs mass is not predicted by theory and, to date, direct experimental searches have put a lower limit on its mass at M_H > 114.4 GeV/c^2 @ 95% CL. The start of the LHC on September 10, 2008, ushered in a new era for particle physics. I summarize the sensitivity for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC to discover a Standard Model Higgs boson with relatively low integrated luminosity. A brief discussion on the expected performance from the experiment in searches for one or more of the Higgs bosons from the minimal version of the supersymmetric theories is also included.
