With AI working its way into seemingly every new mobile app, it’s easy to forget that it’s also getting baked into the apps we’ve all been using for years. Today, Google announced three new AI features coming to the desktop version of Chrome that, while a bit on the understated side, seek to make everyday browsing a bit more convenient.
First up is a feature that’s already been on mobile since 2017: Google Lens. Serving as the basis behind circle to search, Google Lens allows users to tap on an object in an image to quickly search Google Images for visual matches. Now, desktop users will be able to click on a new Lens icon in the address bar to do the same thing.
There’s also some circle to search adjacent tech here: Beyond simply clicking on an object, you’ll be able to drag a box over the specific part of the image you want to search, an option Google suggests could be useful for students watching a math lecture who want some help with a specific equation.
Once you’ve searched for a part of an image, you’ll also be able to use the existing multisearch feature to ask Gemini follow-up questions about your search. For instance, you could use Google Lens to look up a type of plant, then ask Gemini for care instructions for that plant.
Outside of Lens, comparison shopping is set to get easier, too. If you’ve ever had multiple tabs open trying to compare between different phone cases or bluetooth speakers, you know how annoying it can be to bounce back and forth between them to check things like features and pricing. Google promises that Chrome users in the U.S. will soon be able to have Gemini generate a comparison table that will show images, pricing, user reviews, and basic summaries of all similar products across their open tabs, all on one page. Google said it could even see a future version of the feature being useful for planning travel or figuring out what university to attend, although it’s starting with shopping (which is probably easier to monetize than the college selection process).
Finally, Google wants to make it easier to catch up on where you left off by letting you use AI to search your browser history. The idea is that instead of being forced to remember URLs, you could visit your search history and ask a chat interface a question like “what was that ice cream shop I looked at last week?” Chrome would then pull up all the matching sites.
Google says it will exclude sites browsed in incognito mode from AI searches, and a Google representative told Lifehacker that your browsing history will not be used to train Gemini. The feature will also be opt-in, requiring users to navigate to Settings > You and Google > Sync and Google Services > Other Google services > History search, powered by AI to turn it on.
Google Lens on desktop will launch globally in “the latest Chrome update rolling out over the next few days,” while tab comparison and AI-powered history search will be U.S. exclusive to start. There is no set timetable for “tab compare,” as Google is calling it, but AI-powered search history is set for “the coming weeks.” All three features use cloud-based AI models, rather than relying on your device’s native computing power.
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