Google Chrome Gets Gemini Side Panel and Agentic Browsing Features

[MacRumors]

AI-powered browsing features have become a battleground among browser makers in recent months. OpenAI launched its Atlas browser in October, while Microsoft Edge and Opera have also introduced AI assistants and automated browsing capabilities. And now Google is upping the ante. The company has announced a slew of new AI features for Chrome, including a persistent sidebar for the Gemini chatbot and "auto browse" capabilities that can perform web tasks on your behalf.

The update moves Gemini from its previous floating window into an always-available side panel on the right side of the browser, which inevitably shrinks the browsing window. Google, however, says the redesign allows you to multitask more easily, since you can keep your main tab open while using the AI assistant for separate tasks, such as comparing products across multiple tabs or summarizing reviews from different websites.

Chrome is also gaining Nano Banana integration, Google's AI image generator. You can now transform images directly in the browser window using text prompts, without needing to download files or switch tabs.

The headline feature though is "auto browse," which is currently rolling out to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S. According to Google, the agentic tool can handle multi-step tasks like researching hotel and flight prices, filling out online forms, scheduling appointments, and managing subscriptions. Google says it can even identify items in a photo, search for similar products, add them to a shopping cart, and apply discount codes. The company says it even does all this while staying within a specified budget.

Auto browse can use Chrome's built-in password manager (with user permission) for tasks requiring login credentials. The feature is designed to pause and ask you for confirmation for sensitive actions like purchases or social media posts, according to the company.

Lastly, Google plans to add "Personal Intelligence" to Chrome in the coming months. The feature lets the browser remember context from past conversations you've had with it and provide more personalized assistance.

Google hasn't specified a Chrome version that will include all of these features, but the company said the Gemini sidebar support and Nano Banana integration are rolling out now as a server-side service update.


Article Link: Google Chrome Gets Gemini Side Panel and Agentic Browsing Features

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

looks so sweet but NONE of these features in the EU. not even ai search in france. that sucks

 

[tehabe]

looks so sweet but NONE of these features in the EU. not even ai search in france. that sucks

Thankfully.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Thankfully.

those features are incredible, frankly. the relutance towards AI/llm needs to be mitigated and more selective. not everything is useless and stupid

 

[maszaikasza]

I have been testing the paid version of Gemini, and while the overall offering seems quite reasonable (a lot of AI tools plus 200 GB of cloud storage), I don’t really understand the hype around the Gemini LLM itself. I don’t see major differences compared to ChatGPT in general use, whereas over the past week roughly every fifth query ended with an endless loading spinner, as if the model had frozen or Google’s infrastructure couldn’t keep up with generating responses. Maybe Gemini is slightly more versatile than ChatGPT, but it lacks a desktop app for macOS, which ChatGPT has and which, in my opinion, works great - always accessible via a keyboard shortcut, with automatic integration into VSCode or Terminal. This speeds up my work far more effectively than Gemini’s better benchmark results.

 

[leonremi]

those features are incredible, frankly. the relutance towards AI/llm needs to be mitigated and more selective. not everything is useless and stupid

It’s not only useless and stupid, it’s also dangerous.

 

[The African]

those features are incredible, frankly. the relutance towards AI/llm needs to be mitigated and more selective. not everything is useless and stupid

Choice is what is needed. The choice to turn it on or off as one pleases. The current AI on google search results cannot be turned off without going through many technical hoops, and neither was I offered a choice to opt-in in the first place. I hope that this chrome feature offers that option, and to remain as the user chose, on or off, upon chrome restarting

 

[kotaKat]

Remember when all of this crap was a seperate "add-on" and "plugin" for your browser?

God, I'm sick of Google's constant assault and forcing Gemini upon people like a creepy incel demanding a date over and over and not being able to take 'no' for an answer.

 

[ifxf]

I remember when people complained about toolbars eating up the browser window. Now we have sidebars and floating windows.

 

[fatTribble]

I wonder what this will do for Google’s targeted advertising 🫤

 

[Nikhil72]

Man, how hard is it for people to execute basic tasks like hotel room bookings themselves rather than relying on unreliable agentic task execution? Not once while doing something like hotel or flight research or online shopping have I craved automated control of that workflow. My own curiosity leads me to dive deeper into, say, certain hotel features or flight timings or whatever item I’m perusing, and I am chronically short for time and still don’t find said tasks to be fatiguing in any manner.

Glad I’m a safari user! Hopefully when and if Apple adds something like this, it’s in a Siri overlay and not a forced plugin.

 

[david_n_n]

Technically great but this is not the new OG Google moment at all. AI assistants need an intuitive overhaul and better UIs.

 

[Admiral Fart]

Man, how hard is it for people to execute basic tasks like hotel room bookings themselves rather than relying on unreliable agentic task execution? Not once while doing something like hotel or flight research or online shopping have I craved automated control of that workflow. My own curiosity leads me to dive deeper into, say, certain hotel features or flight timings or whatever item I’m perusing, and I am chronically short for time and still don’t find said tasks to be fatiguing in any manner.

Glad I’m a safari user! Hopefully when and if Apple adds something like this, it’s in a Siri overlay and not a forced plugin.

No kidding. I just booked a hotel yesterday, in the exact neighborhood I wanted, close to the exact restaurants I wanted, at the exact price I wanted, with the right amenities I wanted. It took all of 15 minutes, and no AI plug-in, no matter how advanced and intrusive, would have been able to get the exact result I wanted.

 

[everlast3434]

Is there going to be a way to close and it have it never open again? Or do I have to see this thing every time I use Chrome?

 

[Paradoxally]

looks so sweet but NONE of these features in the EU. not even ai search in france. that sucks

I have all those features, and I'm in the EU.

This isn't Apple Intelligence. Well, yet, because it will essentially be Gemini anyway 😀

 

[WilliApple]

does this like do things for you? Like “fill out this form based on what you know about me”
This is something that comet does very well, but if Chrome can do it, I might switch.

 

[TFrank2]

Choice is what is needed. The choice to turn it on or off as one pleases. The current AI on google search results cannot be turned off without going through many technical hoops, and neither was I offered a choice to opt-in in the first place. I hope that this chrome feature offers that option, and to remain as the user chose, on or off, upon chrome restarting

I think this is key. The more hoops one has to jump through to disable certain aspects they find not useful will be telling. These features can certainly be useful in some contexts, and I use them regularly, but being bombarded left and right is nauseating.

 

[kotaKat]

Is there going to be a way to close and it have it never open again? Or do I have to see this thing every time I use Chrome?

My concern is this means that my machine’s going to download all these stupid AI models, waste tens of gigs of space, and possibly be running crap in the background I never needed it to just in case God forbid I click the sidebar button.

 

[Nikhil72]

No kidding. I just booked a hotel yesterday, in the exact neighborhood I wanted, close to the exact restaurants I wanted, at the exact price I wanted, with the right amenities I wanted. It took all of 15 minutes, and no AI plug-in, no matter how advanced and intrusive, would have been able to get the exact result I wanted.

Exactly this. Like, say I’m shopping for theater tickets. Why would I automate that to AI when I can take a few minutes to scan available seats, sort by price, figure out where I might get the best view, and use my functioning brain and fingers to….buy the tickets. Sure, maybe an agent to auto add that to my calendar after? But that already happens.

 

[Return Zero]

I just wish there was an internal confidence/probability factor to these models that was more explicitly communicated through to the end result (or even like a color code system).

I want AI to give me things it knows for 99.9%+ (or whatever) first. Then spit back the things that are, say, 90% certain if they're pertinent, but with a disclaimer. Then don't even spit back anything else unless I specifically ask for additional context or conjecture.

The way many of these models speak authoritatively about things that are clearly wrong or speculative is still a huge issue. I'll admit it has gotten a lot better since the early models, but this kind of habit is the absolute worst way to build trust and real usability.

 

[SBlue1]

Let me grab my popcorn and sit back and watch people complaining that they don't want to use it. Maybe I should post in every single Apple Watch article that I don't want one as well. LOL!

 

[MacBH928]

dont install this spyware

 

[ClaraStahlbaum]

I can't believe people willingly use Google Chrome these days. The amount of people who seem to believe Google Chrome is the only browser out there is just insane. Not to mention all this AI garbage getting involved in everything these days.

 

[Saturn1217]

Google Gemini looks very promising. But until they decouple their Gemini features from their Google drive storage tiers i will never try the paid version of any of this.

With ChatGPT and Claude Ai i can easily pay $20 to test drive stuff for a month and see how i like it and then STOP paying them and be right back where i started. With Google if you give the paid gemini tiers a try and then stop later and you were a google one subscriber you lose your previous subscription for everything else. It’s **** and thankfully others warned me before i gave it a try. Not getting any extra money from me Google until you decouple your products.

 

[fatTribble]

Let me grab my popcorn and sit back and watch people complaining that they don't want to use it. Maybe I should post in every single Apple Watch article that I don't want one as well. LOL!

For me the difference is choice. Very easy for me not to buy something.
It’s hard to say how possible or difficult it will be to avoid future AI features.

The Vision Pro section would be the best place to enjoy your popcorn.
Seemingly every person who did not want a Vision Pro mocked and ridiculed the people who did.