Google is making its AI Mode search experience more powerful. The company announced on Thursday that users can now explore websites side-by-side with AI Mode on Chrome desktop clicking a link opens the webpage alongside the AI conversation instead of replacing it. Google also introduced the ability to search across multiple open Chrome tabs simultaneously, bringing all that context into a single AI-powered query.
How Side-by-Side Browsing Works
Previously, clicking a link in AI Mode took users away from their search conversation entirely. Now, the webpage opens in a split view next to AI Mode, allowing users to read the page content while continuing to ask follow-up questions without losing context.
Google gave the example of shopping for a coffee maker. A user could describe what they are looking for in AI Mode and receive a range of options. After clicking on one, the retailer's website opens alongside the AI conversation. The user can then ask specific questions like "how easy is this to clean?" and AI Mode will use context from both the page and the broader web to answer.
The company said early testers found the feature particularly useful for long articles and videos, where constantly switching tabs made it difficult to stay focused. Having both the search AI and the web content visible at the same time keeps users in their workflow instead of breaking it.
Search Across Your Open Tabs
The second major update lets users bring their existing Chrome tabs into AI Mode searches. On both desktop and mobile, users can tap the new plus menu in the search box on the New Tab page or inside AI Mode, then select recent tabs to include them as context for their query.
This means users can combine multiple tabs, images, or files and feed all of that information into a single AI-powered search. For example, someone researching hiking trails with several tabs already open could add those tabs to their search and ask for similar trails in a different location. A student studying for a statistics exam could bring in class notes, lecture slides, and open tabs to ask the AI for examples illustrating a specific concept.
The feature essentially turns Chrome into a contextual research assistant that understands not just what you are searching for, but what you are already looking at.
The Browser Wars Are Heating Up
These updates arrive as competition in the AI-powered browser space intensifies. OpenAI recently launched Atlas, its own browser product. Perplexity has introduced Comet. The Browser Company is building Dia. And Google itself has been steadily layering Gemini capabilities into Chrome, including the recently launched Skills feature that lets users save and reuse AI prompts across any webpage.
The side-by-side browsing update is a clear signal that Google sees Chrome not just as a browser but as an AI workspace a platform where users research, compare, and make decisions without ever leaving a single window.
Who Gets It and When
The new AI Mode features are currently available in the United States only. Google said it plans to expand them to additional regions in the future, though no specific timeline was provided.
For users already familiar with AI Mode, the update is a significant quality-of-life improvement. For those still using traditional search, the side-by-side experience could be the feature that finally makes AI-assisted browsing feel practical rather than experimental.
The Bigger Picture
Google's strategy is becoming increasingly clear. Rather than building a separate AI product that competes with its own search engine, the company is embedding AI directly into the search and browsing experience. Every update — from AI Overviews to Skills to now side-by-side browsing moves Google closer to a future where AI is not a separate tool you open but something woven into every interaction you have with the web.
Whether users embrace this vision or resist it will depend on execution. But with over two billion Chrome users worldwide, even incremental improvements to how AI Mode works have the potential to reshape how hundreds of millions of people interact with the internet every day.
