Last year, a swarm of AI browsers from companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, Opera, and The Browser Company launched with the aim to replace Chrome with features like sidebar assistants and automated tasks. Now Google is flexing its own AI muscle by adding similar features to Chrome, the world’s largest browser by market share.
While Google had introduced Gemini to Chrome last September, the assistant lived in a floating window. With this update, the company will put its AI helper into a persistent sidebar, so you can ask questions about the current website or other open tabs.
One interesting feature Google demoed to press ahead of today’s launch involved multiple tabs. When you open different tabs from a single web page, the Gemini sidebar understands them as a context group. This is helpful when you are comparing prices or different products you’re considering purchasing.
Before today, the Gemini in Chrome feature was available only to Windows and macOS users. With this rollout, the sidebar will be available to Chromebook Plus users as well.
Google is also taking advantage of its newly launched personal intelligence feature, which connects to your Gmail, Search, YouTube, and Google Photos accounts, allowing you to ask questions based on your own data. This feature will roll out in Chrome in the coming months, meaning that you can ask Gemini in the sidebar about things like your family’s schedule, or ask it to draft an email and send it without switching to Gmail.
There’s a new Nano Banana integration coming to Chrome, too, that allows you to modify an existing image with another image or product that you find while browsing.
However, the most ambitious feature is called auto-browse, which aims to handle tasks for you by using your personal information and traversing websites on your behalf. For instance, you can ask the agentic feature to go to a particular website and buy an item for you, and find a discount coupon. The agent will ask for your intervention when performing data-sensitive tasks, such as logging into a website or making a final purchase.
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Last year, the company explained that these features would use Chrome’s password manager or saved card details, but said its AI models wouldn’t be exposed to any of these details.
This feature is rolling out initially to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S.
Browser-based agents are finicky and often fail to complete tasks. Google’s demo, just like tons of other AI demos, involved shopping and travel planning. In real-world use cases, agents often don’t get the intent or break during traversing different sites, and that would be a challenge for wider adoption.
The company said that in its early testing, users have used the feature for tasks such as scheduling appointments, filling out tedious online forms, collecting their tax documents, getting quotes for plumbers and electricians, and filing expense reports.
The company said that the Gemini sidebar support and Nano Banana integration are arriving starting today, while the personal intelligence feature will be available in the “coming months.”
