New AI Enhancements Arrive for Chrome Users on Linux

In a recent announcement on The Keyword blog, Google Chrome's Vice President, Parisa Tabriz, revealed three innovative AI tools powered by the advanced Google Gemini AI models. Tabriz stated:

“We’re enhancing your browsing experience with smarter ways to search visually using Google Lens, streamline product comparisons across multiple tabs, and rediscover websites from your browsing history, no matter where you are.”

Currently, only one of these features—Google Lens—is available on Chrome 127 for Ubuntu users. The other features are expected to roll out gradually, starting in the USA and eventually reaching other regions.

Here’s a closer look at these new AI-powered tools and what they mean for your web experience:

• Google Lens: A Smarter Visual Search Tool

You might be familiar with Google Lens from its use on Android devices or Google Images for reverse image searches.

I recently used Google Lens to track down a stylish sweater I saw on TV. After discovering its brand and price, I decided against purchasing it, but the tool’s capability was impressive.

Visual searches often save time compared to text-based searches, which can yield irrelevant results. For instance, searching “men’s jacquard sweater with bear” might lead to unrelated shopping links or generic content. Google Lens, however, offers a more precise search method by recognizing and identifying visual elements.

With Chrome 127, you can now perform visual searches directly on any webpage, whether it's a YouTube video, a social media post, or a blog. Just click the new Google Lens icon in the address bar, highlight the item you’re interested in, and get instant results.

• Tab Compare & Conversational Search: Enhancing Browsing Efficiency

When shopping online, comparing multiple products across several tabs can be cumbersome. Chrome’s new ‘Tab Compare’ feature aims to simplify this process by using AI to extract key details from your open tabs and present them in a comparison table. This should help you quickly evaluate different options without having to juggle numerous tabs manually.

Another feature, conversational browser history search, promises to streamline how you access your past browsing activities. You’ll be able to ask questions like “What movie did I research last week?” and get a relevant answer pulled from your browser history.

The effectiveness of this feature will be evaluated as it becomes more widely available. For instance, if you researched various reviews and watched videos about the 1984 film The Last Starfighter, it would be ideal if the AI could recall specific details or the cheapest price you encountered, rather than just providing general results.

Google assures that this feature will be optional and can be turned on or off at any time. Additionally, it will not access data from incognito sessions.

• How to Access These Features

Currently, the enhanced visual search via Google Lens is the only feature available in Chrome 127 on Ubuntu. The other two features—tab comparison and conversational search—will be introduced gradually over the next few weeks, starting with users in the United States.

Ubuntu and using Chrome, you should have the v127 update ready to install.

"We’re making it even easier to search what you see with the power of Google Lens, compare products across multiple tabs and rediscover sites from your browser history, whether you’re at home or at work."

-Google’s Parisa Tabriz

on a side note: there really is no telling what Google or OpenAI will present to the world next. this is the dawn of a new era that i believe will forever change the way the world functions and how the humans on this small planet named Earth go about their every day tasks and routines. i really am a bit excited to see what happens next.