Google to foist Gemini pane on Chrome users in automated browsing push
Google has reworked its Chrome browser to include a new side panel for interacting with the company's Gemini model, in an effort to support AI-assisted interactions with websites.
Toward that end, Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers have gained the option of delegating browsing tasks to Gemini as a software agent.
Chrome – the world's most popular browser by far with more than 70 percent market share as per StatCounter – thus follows in the path of Microsoft Edge, Perplexity, OpenAI Atlas, and Opera, among others, in the belief that internet users want to sit back while AI does the browsing and (perhaps) buying.
The Gemini button, introduced last September on the top right-hand corner of Chrome, has been adjusted to shrink the display area of websites in order to accommodate a sidebar pane to chat with the Google AI bot.
"This can help you save time and multitask without interruption," explained Parisa Tabriz, VP of Chrome, in a blog post. "You can keep your primary work open on one tab while using the side panel to handle a different task."
Tabriz suggests this has organizational benefits by allowing users to compare options presented in different tabs or to summarize product reviews across different websites.
As shown in the blog post, if you had an image loaded in your browser from a website that depicted a photo booth, you could tell Gemini to "Go to Etsy and find supplies to recreate the photo booth and add them to my cart. Don't spend more than $75 total." The AI agent would then attempt a series of steps that involve navigating to Etsy, finding objects depicted in the photo like fringe curtains, adding them to your shopping cart, all the way up to the point where you would have the option to purchase the materials.
The side panel has also been integrated with Google Nano Banana, for creating images directly or for altering images in the browser window.
Google has also deepened Chrome's integration with Connected Apps, which now include Google Workspace apps, various calendar and communications apps for Android, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Google Photos, Home, Maps, Shopping and Flights. These applications are potentially accessible to Gemini with the appropriate permissions.
The Chocolate Factory says it plans to bring Gemini's Personal Intelligence to Chrome in the coming months, so that its AI-browser mélange can retain past interactions with websites and applications to inform its present context, if you opt in.
With these various revisions, Tabriz claims Chrome can act as a software agent, capable of executing tasks that involve a series of steps, with a capability dubbed "Chrome auto browse."
"Auto browse can help you optimize your vacation planning by doing some of the mundane work, like researching hotel and flight costs across multiple date options, so you can find a budget-friendly time to travel," Tabriz explains.
She suggests the software can schedule appointments, fill out forms, assemble tax documents, solicit bids from tradespeople, and so on.
The tweaks apply to Chrome for macOS, Windows and Chromebook Plus in the US presently. As for auto browse, it is presently limited to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers.
But the utility of Chrome auto browse may yet be less than Google hopes, thanks to barriers some websites are putting in place to limit agentic interaction. Amazon recently sued Perplexity, alleging it initiated automated site access without proper authorization, and eBay has revised its user agreement to disallow orders placed without human review.
Websites aren't necessarily willing participants in the effort to exile human interaction. Whether they can detect automated visits is another matter. And the willingness of websites to keep bots at bay may waver if there's cash being left on the table: McKinsey projects that by 2030, agentic commerce for business-to-consumer retail operations could reach $1 trillion in the US.
Google for its part appears to be trying to resolve this tension. Its Chrome auto browse will ask for human confirmation when making purchases or posting to social media sites. And the company says Chrome will support Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard for bot-driven commerce developed with the help of Etsy, Shopify, Target, and Wayfair. ®
