Google is taking a major step in the AI browser race by rolling out a new wave of Gemini integrations inside Chrome. The company announced that Gemini in Chrome will no longer require a paid membership, making it available to all Mac and Windows users in the US starting today. This move comes as tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, and others compete to make their AI agents central to how people browse the web.
The most exciting update is Google’s plan to turn Gemini into a true digital assistant capable of handling “tedious tasks.” In the coming months, users will be able to ask Gemini to do things like shop for groceries using a list in their email, reschedule deliveries, make hair appointments, and book restaurant reservations. Charmaine D’Silva, Chrome’s director of product management, emphasized that Gemini will include safety checkpoints for anything considered “high-risk” or irreversible, though Google has not shared an exact launch date for this automation feature.
Some features are available right away. Gemini in Chrome can now tap into Google Workspace for both personal and enterprise accounts, letting it find and act on relevant information across Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and other Google tools. It can also interact with YouTube, Maps, and other services to help users act directly on what they’re seeing on screen.
A particularly helpful addition is Gemini’s ability to work across multiple tabs. Users can compare products, summarize information from several sites at once, and even recall pages from their browsing history. Instead of leaving dozens of tabs open overnight, you can now simply close them and ask Gemini the next day to bring back what you were researching — for example, a list of team-building activities you viewed the day before.
On mobile, Android users will be able to share the full context of a page with Gemini — not just the portion visible on their screen — allowing for more in-depth questions. iPhone users will soon get similar access via the Chrome app.
These updates reflect a broader shift toward AI-powered browsing. Anthropic’s Claude introduced “Computer Use” last year, enabling it to operate a browser on a user’s behalf, and OpenAI later launched its own Operator agent before merging it with its deep research tool to create ChatGPT Agent. Perplexity has entered the space with its AI-driven Comet browser, and Atlassian recently spent $610 million to acquire The Browser Company, makers of the AI-centric Dia browser.
With these changes, Google is clearly signaling that Gemini is not just a chatbot — it is becoming a full-fledged browser companion aimed at making web browsing smarter, simpler, and far more automated.