Microsoft famously brought its Copilot AI to the Edge browser in Windows. Now Google is doing the same with Chrome.
In a list of announcements that spanned dozens of pages, Google allocated just a single line to the announcement: “Gemini is coming to Chrome, so you can ask questions while browsing the web.”
Google later clarified what Gemini on Chrome can do: “This first version allows you to easily ask Gemini to clarify complex information on any webpage you’re reading or summarize information,” the company said in a blog post. “In the future, Gemini will be able to work across multiple tabs and navigate websites on your behalf.”
Other examples of what Gemini can do involves coming up with personal quizzes based on material in the Web page, or altering what the page suggests, like a recipe. In the future, Google plans to allow Gemini in Chrome to work on multiple tabs, navigate within Web sites, and automate tasks.
Google said that you’ll be able to either talk or type commands to Gemini. To access it, you can use the Alt+G shortcut in Windows.
Gemini is to Chrome what Copilot is to Edge
Within Edge, Microsoft uses Copilot to summarize documents and web pages, as well as answer questions about the content within them. Gemini will do the same, but well after Microsoft integrated Copilot — a possible reason for downplaying the announcement.
Google is also using “Gemini” as a catch-all for various AI functions, much in the same way that Microsoft uses Copilot as an AI brand. Google, like Microsoft, is pushing agentic AI, where various bits of autonomous AI work independently to pursue tasks.
Google calls this “Project Mariner,” and will appear in mobile and on the desktop. It may appear as “Agent Mode,” so a task like searching for an apartment in Austin could be broken down into tasks like searching rental agencies , and so on. It will be coming soon, to “subscribers,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a keynote address at its Google I/O developer conference on Tuesday. Those will include Google’s AI Pro as well as the new $250/mo Google Ultra subscription.
You’ll see Gemini appear in Chrome as early as this week, Google executives said — on May 21, a representative clarified. However, you’ll initially need to be a Gemini subscriber to take advantage of its features, a requirement that Microsoft does not apply with Copilot for Edge. Otherwise, Google will let those who participate in the Google Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary programs test it out. Over time, it will be made free to all users.
Updated at 11:55 PM PT on May 21 with additional details.
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.