Google is making its biggest Chrome AI push yet, embedding Gemini features directly into the browser as the company races to defend its turf against OpenAI's new Atlas browser. The move brings agentic AI, personalized intelligence, and an always-on chatbot panel to Chrome users, marking a significant escalation in the battle for how people access AI on the web. With the updates rolling out to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers first, Google is betting that browser-native intelligence will keep users locked into its ecosystem.
Google just turned Chrome into an AI command center. The company rolled out a suite of Gemini-powered features on Wednesday that fundamentally change how its 3 billion browser users can interact with the web, embedding everything from image generation to autonomous task execution directly into the browsing experience.
The centerpiece is Auto browse, an agentic AI feature that lets subscribers tell Chrome to do things like "go through my favorited apartments on Redfin and remove any that aren't pet friendly," according to Google's blog post. The tool can order groceries, compare flight options across multiple dates, and execute other multi-step tasks across different websites with a single prompt. It's the kind of capability that Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has been pushing toward with his vision of a "universal assistant" that can plan and act on behalf of users across any device.
But there's a catch. Auto browse is only available to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S. for now, meaning Google is using its browser dominance to drive paid AI subscriptions. The company is also introducing Nano Banana, its image generation tool, and a redesigned Chrome interface that keeps a Gemini chatbot panel pinned to the right side of the browser as you surf the web.
"Chrome will remember context from past conversations so you get uniquely tailored answers to whatever you're looking for across the web," Chrome VP Parisa Tabriz wrote in the announcement. That personalization builds on Google's "Personal Intelligence" feature, which in the Gemini app. The feature hooks into Gmail, Google Photos, and other services to deliver customized responses based on your actual data.
