Google turns Chrome into an AI browser with Gemini integration

[Daniel Sims]

What just happened? In its race against ChatGPT's popularity and Microsoft's Copilot, Google is working to get Gemini in front of as many users as quickly as possible. This week, the company took a decisive step by turning Chrome, the world's most popular web browser, into an AI-powered browser.

Google has started rolling out agentic AI features in Chrome for macOS and Windows users in the US. The new generative AI tool can analyze web pages, interact with Google apps, and perform tasks autonomously.

Chrome will soon display the Gemini diamond logo in the top-right corner. Clicking it opens a chatbot window for questions and natural language commands, and Google has also integrated AI functionality directly into the address bar.

The assistant can consolidate and explain information from all open tabs, eliminating the need to switch back and forth. It can also recall previously visited pages from a description, provided Gemini is allowed to access Chrome's browsing history.

To demonstrate Gemini's capabilities, Google showed it summarizing a YouTube video into bullet points with timestamp links. It then used the summary to create recurring events in Google Calendar. Gemini can also navigate e-commerce sites to add shopping-list items to a cart, but it always asks for approval before completing a purchase.

The update is likely Google's attempt to boost Gemini adoption and position Chrome as the leading AI-powered browser before competitors like Microsoft and OpenAI gain ground. Microsoft has been integrating its Copilot assistant into Edge for some time, but Chrome's user base still dwarfs Edge and every other desktop rival.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's ChatGPT remains the most popular generative AI assistant, and the company recently introduced Operator, a web-browsing agent for paying subscribers. In response, Google is racing to launch the first widely available free agentic browser.

By contrast, Vivaldi is resisting AI integration, citing reports that AI-generated summaries reduce users' likelihood of clicking through to sources, thereby lowering traffic. Concerns about accuracy also persist, as the hallucination problem remains unresolved.

Gemini integration in Chrome is also coming soon to businesses via Google Workspace, as well as to the Android and iOS versions of the browser.

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Google turns Chrome into an AI browser with Gemini integration

 

[OortCloud]

I left Chrome behind long ago. It's a turd of a browser these days. It's only good point is the open source Chromium renderer at it's heart. Everything else about it now is geared towards scraping your data, pumping you full of adverts and cookies and directing you down paths they are paid to send you down.

Throw it away and get Brave or some other 3rd party Chromium-based browser and live a life free from cookies, nags, adverts and mis-direction. And no the Manifest V3 stuff in Chromium has no effect on these browsers as they implement their own blocking etc and don't use Chromium for this.

 

[ArmorJr]

I left Chrome behind long ago. It's a turd of a browser these days. It's only good point is the open source Chromium renderer at it's heart. Everything else about it now is geared towards scraping your data, pumping you full of adverts and cookies and directing you down paths they are paid to send you down.

Throw it away and get Brave or some other 3rd party Chromium-based browser and live a life free from cookies, nags, adverts and mis-direction. And no the Manifest V3 stuff in Chromium has no effect on these browsers as they implement their own blocking etc and don't use Chromium for this.

Same. Enjoying my Brave and Vivaldi browsers <3

 

[winjer]

Good thing I haven't used Chrome in many years.
This crap just keeps getting worse and worse.

 

[m4a4]

Google, it's too much, you don't need to sell me any more on Chrome. Manifest V3 only and now this? I'm already not using it, stop making it an easier decision.

 

[axiomatic13]

What is this Chrome thing you talk about? It's dead to me.

 

[BobHome]

The author stated: Chrome will soon display the Gemini diamond logo in the top-right corner.
The author did Not state: Right-click the diamond logo to remove it.

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Come join the Firefox dark side. We have cookies - and AI-negating customization options.

 

[p51d007]

I left Chrome behind long ago. It's a turd of a browser these days. It's only good point is the open source Chromium renderer at it's heart. Everything else about it now is geared towards scraping your data, pumping you full of adverts and cookies and directing you down paths they are paid to send you down.

Throw it away and get Brave or some other 3rd party Chromium-based browser and live a life free from cookies, nags, adverts and mis-direction. And no the Manifest V3 stuff in Chromium has no effect on these browsers as they implement their own blocking etc and don't use Chromium for this.

Brave & Vivaldi are the two I use.

 

[daffy duck]

What's a Chrome browser, is it super shiny?

 

[OortCloud]

What's a Chrome browser, is it super shiny?

It's a polished turd.

 

[Zoneman]

Yes, I use Vivaldi, as I won't use a browser that doesn't support uBlock.

 

[dalpilot]

Yes, I use Vivaldi, as I won't use a browser that doesn't support uBlock.

Personally, I just received an invite to use Comet a Chromium based browser and so far it works great and the important extensions (including uBlock Origin Lite) all work and are installable from the Web Store (including two key other ones for me: Nord VPN and Keep (yes, I know it's Google but it's the one I've used and like).

 

[Namtrooper]

Hmmm. I don't think we have enough AI integrated into every facet of our lives yet.