Google is Adding AI Image Generation and Virtual Assistant Panel to Chrome

Chrome's AI Transformation Begins

As part of its strategy to enhance its digital services with artificial intelligence, Google is adding significant features to the Chrome browser to assist with image processing and online tasks. The company is placing its Gemini 3 model, announced late last year, at the core of its browser.

Nano Banana Integrates into the Browser

With the new update, Google's AI-powered image generation and editing tool, Nano Banana, is beginning to roll out to desktop Chrome users in the US. This move is seen as a step that could further blur the line between real photographs and images created or altered by artificial intelligence.

Google's AI-focused innovations show no signs of slowing down. The company had previously added AI-powered image editing and a virtual assistant panel to Chrome. Furthermore, the AI mode in Google Search and the Google AI Plus service launched in the US are among the company's other significant steps in this field.

Virtual Assistant Support in the Side Panel

Another new feature of Chrome is the side panel option. Through this panel, which will open on the side of the browser, users will be able to receive assistance from an AI-powered assistant for various tasks while simultaneously continuing with their other online work.

For Google's AI Pro and Ultra service subscribers, a more advanced "auto-navigation" function will be activated. This function will have capabilities such as automatically logging into websites, searching for products via command, and preparing social media posts. However, user approval will be required for purchasing from AI-prepared shopping carts and publishing draft social media posts.

Personal Intelligence Technology on the Way

Google, with the upgrades it integrated into its search engine, had already introduced "Personal Intelligence" technology, which uses AI to learn more about users' lives. The company commits to bringing this option to Chrome later this year.

Competitive Landscape and Past Offers

Chrome's AI transformation comes just months after a federal judge rejected the US Department of Justice's attempt to force Google to sell its browser after finding it guilty of illegal monopolization in search. The judge partly refused the sale because he believed the competitive landscape was being shaped by smaller rivals like OpenAI and Perplexity integrating AI into their chatbots and their own web browsers.

OpenAI had expressed interest in acquiring Chrome if a forced sale had been mandated, before launching its own AI browser, Atlas, last October. Perplexity, which offers an AI browser called Comet, had made a $34.5 billion offer for Chrome before the judge ruled against the sale.

Google's innovations in the operating systems field are not limited to the browser. Leaked images of the Android for PC interface are interpreted as part of the company's strategy to unify different platforms. Similarly, Snap's separation of its AR glasses business into a separate company shows that tech giants are reshaping their focus areas.