Google Embeds AI Into Chrome for 3.5 Billion Users

Google has embedded two new artificial intelligence (AI) features into Chrome, putting Gemini inside the purchase journey before shoppers reach a buying decision.

Skills for Gemini lets users save AI prompts and replay them on any webpage with a single click. An update to AI Mode in Chrome means clicking a search result now opens a merchant’s page in a side panel alongside an active Gemini session, inserting the AI into the browsing session the moment a shopper shows intent.

The deployment sits on top of considerable infrastructure. Chrome runs on roughly 3.5 billion devices and holds about 65% of the global browser market, according to StatCounter. Gemini counts 750 million monthly active users across its surfaces, Google said, up more than 100-fold in two years.

Skills live inside the Gemini side panel built into Chrome desktop. A user writes a prompt, saves it, then activates it on any page by typing a forward slash or a plus. It runs on the current tab or across however many tabs the user picks.

Google launched Skills with a curated library spanning Shopping, Recipes, Budgeting and Productivity. Most launch examples target retail directly: spec comparisons across open tabs, review summaries and gift recommendations scored against a budget. Once saved, a workflow travels with the user into every product page they open.

AI Mode works from the other end. When a user finds a result worth exploring, clicking it opens the merchant’s page in a side panel inside the same session. Gemini reads the page and the broader web at once and fields follow-up questions against both, Google said.

The merchant’s page is no longer where discovery ends. It’s where Gemini starts working.

Google isn’t stopping at the browser. The Gemini app is now available on macOS as a native desktop experience, reachable from anywhere on the desktop with a keyboard shortcut.

Anthropic is moving in a parallel direction inside productivity software: Claude for Excel and Claude for PowerPoint now let users save workflows as one-click Skills that repeat across open files, targeting finance and enterprise teams working across spreadsheets and decks.