Google brings Gemini-powered search history and Lens to Chrome desktop

Google Thursday said that it is introducing new Gemini-powered features for Chrome’s desktop version, including Lens for desktop, tab compare for shopping assistance, and natural language integration for search history.

Years after introducing and evolving Google Lens on mobile, the feature is finally coming to desktop. Rolling out to users across the world in the coming days, Lens will live in the address bar, as well as the three-dot menu. After clicking, you can select a part of a page and ask more questions to get search results.

You can also tap on objects, such as someone’s backpack in a picture, and ask questions through multi-search to find a similar item in different colors or brands. Depending on the question you ask, you might also get AI Overviews in answers.

In addition to searching for shoppable items, users can also find out how much sunlight a plant needs, for example, or get help understanding a math equation.

Google is also introducing a new feature called Tab Compare to aid shopping. In the coming weeks, Chrome will offer an AI-powered summary of similar items you might be searching across different tabs. For instance, if you are searching for a new Bluetooth speaker, the feature will show details such as product specs, features, price and ratings in one place, even when you’re looking at these details across different pages.

One of the most useful updates of this lot is the ability to search your browsing history through natural language queries. Sometimes you don’t remember what page you visited apart from a few details. The company is rolling out AI-powered history search in the coming weeks as an opt-in feature for U.S. users.

An example of a natural language query is, “What was that ice cream shop I looked at last week?” Google uses a combination of URL, title, and contents of the page to show search results.

The company said that it doesn’t use this data to train Gemini and won’t surface any information from the incognito session. Google currently can’t process AI-powered search history locally, however, so it uses cloud capacity to return results.

In January, the company introduced AI-powered features such as a writing assistant, tab organizer, and theme creator. In May, it rolled out a way to mention Gemini and ask the chatbot questions directly from the address bar.