Google has recently pushed AI features into ChromeOS, hoping to draw users away from Microsoft’s solutions and towards Google’s more cost-effective devices. Now, Google is expanding these AI tools to the Chrome browser, which is widely regarded as one of the most used desktop applications worldwide.
The new Gemini AI integrations bring advanced capabilities to image searches via Google Lens and improve how you find information in your tabs and history.
Enhanced Image Search:
The reverse image search in Chrome has been straightforward so far, allowing you to right-click an image to find similar ones online. With the latest update, a new Lens camera button in the toolbar offers a more flexible image search. You can now click to select a specific area within an image or directly on an object to see related results in a sidebar. You can refine these results further by performing additional queries.
This updated feature mirrors Lens’s functionality on Android, with the added benefit of handling text from images and videos. It’s rolling out globally starting today, though it appears to focus primarily on product searches.
Tab and History Improvements:
A new tab comparison feature is also on the way, designed to automatically create tables for comparing product details across multiple tabs. This tool will be available to Chrome users in the US within the next few weeks.
In addition, an upgraded history search will use Gemini to support conversational queries, improving the search for previously visited sites. This means you can ask questions like “What was that ice cream shop I checked out last week?” to find exact matches more easily.
Google is taking a cautious approach with the new history search, ensuring it is opt-in and uses synthetic data rather than real user data. This feature will initially roll out to US users before expanding further.
Although these new features might not convince me to switch from my preferred browser, I’ll keep Chrome installed to take advantage of these enhancements when needed.