Google on Thursday announced three new features for Chrome for Macs that are based on Google AI and Gemini models. The new features are being rolled out in upcoming updates to the Chrome browser. Here’s how the new features will enhance the way you search using Chrome.
Google Lens
Google Lens is one of the best features of mobile Chrome on iPhone, and now it’s coming to Chrome for Mac this week. On Chrome for Android or iPhone, you can tap the camera icon, take a picture of an item, and Google will perform a search based on the photo’s content.
Google Lens on Chrome for Mac has a new camera icon that will appear in the address bar. When a user selects it, the user can click or drag over anything in the current browser tab, and then Google will do a search based on the contents selected. The search can be refined or users can ask follow-up questions, which could result in an AI Overview response.
Tab compare for product research
When doing product research on the web, Chrome will now be able to create a single comparison table for your reference, so you don’t have to visit several different websites to get your info. According to Google, this feature works by being able to sense the product information in open tabs; Chrome will offer to create a table of the products in those tabs. The Google chart appears in a new tab. This feature is coming “in the next few weeks” starting in the U.S.
Using AI to search your history
In another feature “starting in the U.S. in the coming weeks,” users will be able to search their browser history using natural language queries. All the user needs to do is access the Chrome history and then input a query in the address bar. A drop-down menu will appear with relevant websites from the history, Google says that the results will not include any sites that were accessed while in Incognito mode. This feature can be turned off in Chrome’s settings.
Apple is bringing AI to the Mac with Apple Intelligence starting in iOS 18.1 this fall. Among the new features is a new Summarize feature in Safari that scans web pages and creates capsules to tell you what the page is about. Apple is also rumored to be working on its own search engine, so it’s likely that features like these come to Safari in the future.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.