On April 16, Google announced the launch of a new web browsing method for its conversational search experience AI Mode: when users use AI Mode on the Chrome desktop, click a link in the search results, and the web page will be displayed side by side with the AI Mode window. Google said the move is designed to make it easier for users to browse related websites, compare details and ask follow-up questions while maintaining the context of their search.
In actual use, if a user wants to buy a new coffee machine, he can first describe his needs in natural language in AI Mode and get a series of recommended options. When the user clicks on one of the products, the corresponding e-commerce website will open side by side with AI Mode in the browser, and the user can continue to ask specific questions such as "Is this machine easy to clean?" AI Mode will combine the content of the web page and the information on the entire network to understand and summarize it, and give contextual answers.
Google pointed out in its blog that early test users reported that they no longer need to frequently switch tabs to obtain AI assistance when reading long articles or watching long videos. At the same time, the way search results and web pages are presented side by side helps users stay focused when processing tasks while efficiently exploring various useful pages.
In addition to side-by-side browsing, Google is introducing a new way to search within existing Chrome tabs with AI Mode. On Chrome desktop or mobile, users can click the new "plus sign" menu in the search box of "New Tab Page" or in the AI Mode interface to select the recently visited tab page and include it in the same search round. This means that users can "package" the content of multiple tabs, images, or files into one query, and bring these contexts into AI Mode's answers.
For example, Google said that if a user is researching local hiking routes and has opened several related web pages, they can use this function to add these pages to the AI Mode search and request the system to recommend similar routes in other areas. For another example, when preparing for a statistics exam, users can simultaneously introduce the currently opened web page, class notes, and lecture slides, and let AI Mode generate examples based on these materials to help understand a certain concept.
Google said that these new AI Mode features are currently available in the United States and plan to expand to more countries and regions in the future.