Google Chrome Takes On AI Browsers

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.