Google Adds Gemini AI to Chrome’s Address Bar, Which Might Be a Better Idea Than You Think
Google is busy integrating its Gemini AI assistant into its ecosystem, upgrading as it goes. That means that not every new or improved feature gets a lot of attention when it rolls out outside of the updated support site. Still, a few new Gemini tools are worth highlighting, as they embody Google’s strategy to make Gemini as flexible and user-friendly as possible.
Google Chrome’s dominance among web browsers makes it an obvious hub for Google to encourage Gemini usage. That now includes allowing users to interact with Gemini directly from the address bar. It may not seem like much, but the feature removes a barrier to Gemini on Chrome, potentially encouraging some of Chrome’s millions of users to at least test out the AI.
To talk to Gemini in Chrome’s address bar, simply treat it like many other Chrome extensions. Type “@gemini” into the address bar, followed by your question or prompt. Gemini will process the request and take you to the Gemini homepage in the same browser window. You can see what it looks like in the image at the top.
Google Chrome isn’t alone in trying to combine an AI assistant with a browser. Microsoft Edge has included the Microsoft Copilot AI assistant in one form or another for over a year now. As the name suggests, Microsoft’s browser has an edge over Chrome’s new feature in at least one important way. Copilot’s responses are determined in part by the web page you’re viewing.
Gemini lacks this level of contextual awareness and the ability to personalize a response to your current browsing. If you’re more concerned about privacy than personalization, you might even see this limit as a positive, since it means Gemini isn’t analyzing your history. For more general questions or requests, though, Chrome’s address bar works just fine for reaching out to Gemini. It also plays nicely with other recent AI updates to Chrome, like Gemini-powered visual search via Google Lens, in-tab shopping comparisons, and a more organized browsing history.
Gemini Upload Mobile
The other notable new Gemini update is on the mobile app. If you subscribe to Gemini Advanced, you can now upload files to the Gemini app on Android and iOS devices. Previously, uploading documents was only available on the web. You can use the app to send up to 10 files of up to 100 MB to Gemini at a time. Most common formats are supported, including plain text, Microsoft Word, PDFs, and spreadsheets.
This mobile improvement is intended to encourage people to use Gemini more often, even when they’re away from their computers. It brings Gemini’s document analysis to smartphones, which is great if you want Gemini to explain or summarize a spreadsheet or report without having to manually copy and paste it. Much like Chrome’s address bar option, Google’s efforts are all about making Gemini more accessible. And once people get used to Gemini in some form, it’ll be much easier for Google to keep them as a customer, regardless of what its rivals offer. Whether Gemini will become another Google product that people use as reflexively as Gmail or Google Docs remains to be seen, but it’s a strategy with a lot of success behind it.
