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Google has announced a significant upgrade to its AI Mode in Chrome that lets you explore links within the search interface much better than before.
When users trigger the AI Mode on Chrome, clicking on a link will now open the target webpage in a split screen alongside the ongoing conversation with the AI. This allows users to maintain the thread of their original query while also being able to hop between the source materials.
The AI Mode is also able to see the webpage you would be browsing, and is contextually aware of the active page. This allows users to ask any specific question, like the one shown in the example above, where the user asks, "How easy is this to clean?" and the AI synthesizes the information of the whole page along with its own knowledge to provide an answer.
There's also a new "plus" menu available in the search box, using which users can bundle recent tabs, images, documents, etc., in a single query to provide the AI more context on what they'd like to search about.
Over the past year, Google has been aggressively integrating genAI features into its flagship products. Last September, the company rolled out what was arguably Chrome's biggest update ever, where it introduced AI Mode first and other agentic capabilities. We've also seen Google expand some of these features to mobile, bringing an AI Mode shortcut to Chrome on iOS and Android.
AI Mode's early iterations, specifically AI Overviews, faced a lot of criticism from users over inconsistent information, which led to many users seeking workarounds to disable the feature entirely. Over time, Google worked on making it more accurate, and it now allows you to open its own distinct conversational-style window rather than a lifeless block at the top of every search result.
Google added that tools such as Canvas and image generation will also be accessible via the new plus menu. The update is rolling out for users in the United States as of now, with a global expansion planned soon.