Google has rolled out a slew of updates and features to Chrome in the last few weeks, such as immersive reading and vertical tabs. And the changes are still coming. On Thursday, Google launched a new Search experience in Chrome that upgrades its AI Mode to make it easier to research and switch tabs.
Here are the three new features rolling out now in the US, with plans to expand coming soon.
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Search side-by-side
During a demo for reporters this week, Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search, showed off a feature that opens any web page you click on in side-by-side view with AI Mode. The goal is for the side-by-side layout to make it easier to explore similar websites, dive deeper into details and ask follow-up questions.
Stein used an example of researching how McLaren’s Formula One racing team trains pit crews to complete lightning-fast pit stops. Using AI Mode in Chrome, you can easily toggle to related pages, maybe even reading about how McLaren holds the fastest pit record in F1 at just 1.80 seconds, set when driver Lando Norris pitted at the Qatar Grand Prix in 2023. AI Mode in Chrome allows you not to break your flow when you fall down internet rabbit holes.
This new feature will open any webpage you click on side-by-side with AI Mode.
Search across your tabs
You can also search across Chrome tabs. To get started, you can simply select tabs and add them to your search by tapping “plus” menu on the New Tab page or the plus menu in AI Mode. Once you click the plus button, AI Mode will provide responses and suggest more sites to explore.
Using this feature, you can search across multiple tabs, images or files (like PDFs) and bring them into your AI Mode searches.
You can now search across Chrome tabs.
In the demo, Stein and Mike Torres, vice president of product for Chrome, showed how this feature can be used to study for a midterm. In this instance, you can incorporate context from open Chrome tabs with your class or lecture notes, slides, readings and other study materials, and then ask for help from there. AI Mode will then use those Chrome tabs and materials to provide a custom response to answer your question.
This feature is available now on Chrome desktop or mobile.
Multi-input and easy tool access
Google is also making it easier to access tools like Canvas, a tool for organizing plans and projects like study guides, or image creation, which lets you create and edit images in a few seconds in AI Mode. Just click the new plus menu in Chrome to launch these platforms.
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