Lens in Chrome Could Be Even Better Than Circle to Search

Despite the new wave of competition, Google’s doing its damndest to keep its Search and Chrome browser at the top of the heap. Gemini AI in Search has had its share of issues, so the Mountain View tech giant is leveraging the popularity of its Circle to Search feature on Android and sticking it directly into the Chrome browser. The new Lens in Chrome feature might even be better than it is on mobile, thanks to the ability to pull objects in images or video directly into Search.

In a blog post, Google’s VP of Chrome, Parisa Tabriz, detailed a host of new features coming to Chrome browsers that should be hitting users’ PCs and Chromebooks in the next few days. The first is the Google Lens in Chrome, which adds a special lens button to the right of your browser bar. Hit that button, and your screen will glaze over with a blue sheen, which is exactly how it works on Circle to Search. Once you select an object or text, you’ll see a sidebar on the right side offering info and links. You can further refine your search in the popup text box with Multisearch.

It may also include an AI overview based on the query, though you can still turn off those AI features if you don’t want to use glue to get cheese to stick on pizza. What’s most impressive about the feature is how well it seems to recognize objects in-frame. Google showed how the feature could pull out a math problem from a YouTube video into Search. 

On Android, you can either highlight text or “circle” an object on the screen to perform a search. The new interface on Chrome won’t let you draw to select objects, though it can pull out images of a plant or backpack with a single click-through object segmentation. Clicking on certain products will also bring up the Google Shopping panel. 

The Chrome feature lacks the homework help capabilities that Circle to Search has on Android, though when you highlight text in an image or video, you can copy it or translate it.

The other big feature coming to Chrome is Tab Compare. Simply put, if you have multiple store web pages up across tabs, you can bring all those products together to check prices and Google reviews. This will show up as a suggestion box next to your open tabs. It generates a special Compare tab listing all the products you have open and specs. 

Tab compare may not be around for another few weeks, though it might make online shopping a bit easier so long as it works well among various sites. These features were previously in beta, though there’s less to be said about the third change coming to Chrome with AI browsing history search. Essentially, it turns your search history page search into a prompt box where you can use natural language to help you recall that shop you searched for last week. 

Google stressed that the feature was “entirely optional,” and users can turn it off in their Chrome settings. The company also promised that it shouldn’t include any info from when you were searching in Incognito Mode. Google is planning to add a disclaimer to its private browsing mode to make it clear that both websites and Google still track your activity.

Google Lens will be rolling out to users globally, but Tab compare and AI-enabled browser history are being restricted to U.S.-based desktop users.