Ever since ChatGPT showed the masses what generative AI is capable of,it seems every companyis dead-set on adding the technology to any product where it might vaguely make sense.Google may just bethe poster child for this movement, but its portfolio of apps and services are in the somewhat-unique position of actually being able to benefit from an injection of artificial intelligence. Products like Sheets, Docs, and Gmail have genuinely improved after being graced by the likes ofDuet AIandGemini Pro, but Google has taken a more deliberate and methodical approach with core offerings like Search and Chrome. Today, the latter is getting its first full helping of AI with the release ofChrome 121, and the changes being ushered in could have an impact on how you browse the web.
Organize Similar Tabs
Google Chrome’s tab groups are handy for those times when you dive down a research rabbit hole and find yourself with more open tabs than you know what to do with. The only trouble is you have to manually add tabs to groups, and that eventually gets to be just as tricky as juggling multiple open windows full of related tabs.
Chrome 121 introduces a handy new AI utilitywe spotted in developmentcalled Tab Organizer that can place your tabs into groups automatically — particularly useful if you’re researching multiple topics at once. The UI is intuitive, too: just right-click a tab and choose “Organize similar tabs” to let the AI sift through the mess. No word on if this is coming to Android anytime soon, where tab groups are also a thing, but we remain hopeful.
Customize Chrome
With a featurewe had been trackingsince December, Chrome 121 now lets you build your own custom browser theme using AI. Much like the AI wallpapers feature on Pixel phones, this uses Google’s text-to-image diffusion model to generate imagery that suits a color, subject, style, or mood — imagery that simply didn’t exist before you fed the prompt.
To try it out, just head to the new and improvedCustomize Chromemenu, selectChange theme, thenCreate With AI. If you’re interested in seeing what it’s capable of,Google has a page on the Chrome Web Storehighlighting some of the best themes the Chrome team has created with the tool.
Help Me Write
The breadcrumbs were therefor the final Chrome AI feature being highlighted today, but we’re nonetheless excited to see it rolling out: theHelp Me Write feature you may have already used in Gmailwill soon be available across the web now that Google is integrating it into Chrome.
Beginning next month, you’ll be able to highlight a segment of text you’ve written, then right-click it and trigger Help Me Write to use the text as a prompt. From there, tell it the length and tone you’re shooting for, then watch as Google’s AI writes out a custom message based on your parameters. As we’ve seen with other products, this is one of the best uses for generative AI, effectively putting an end to that pesky blank page syndrome.
With the exception of Help Me Write, all of these AI features will be available in Chrome 121, which is rolling out to the stable channel now. If you haven’t been keeping track, don’t worry — we’ve chronicled all themajor changes coming in Chrome 121.
