If a new icon has appeared in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser and clicking it opens an AI chat panel down the side of the screen, that's Gemini in Chrome. Google has been rolling this out gradually since late January 2026, and it keeps reaching more people — most recently, users in the UK started seeing it in mid-July.
What it actually does. Gemini used to open in a floating window over the page. Now it lives in a side panel that stays open next to whatever tab you're viewing. Click the "Ask Gemini" icon and it can summarize the page you're on, answer questions about it, or — if you choose to share more than one tab — compare information across up to 10 open tabs at once, which is handy for things like comparing prices or reading several reviews side by side. It also connects to other Google apps: it can draft an email and hand it to Gmail as a ready-to-send compose window, pull up relevant results in Maps, check your Calendar, or pull key points from a YouTube video's transcript. People on a paid Google AI Pro or Ultra plan also get "Auto Browse," a feature that lets Gemini carry out a multi-step task on your behalf across tabs, such as researching several options and filling in details for you.
What it can see. When you share a tab with Gemini — the tab you're currently viewing is shared by default once you open the panel — it reads that page's content and web address, and does the same for any extra tabs you add. Google says that data is logged temporarily to your account, but doesn't show up in your regular Gemini Apps Activity, and isn't used to train its models without permission. You can stop sharing a specific tab at any time by clicking the "X" next to its name in the panel, and you're not required to share anything to keep using Chrome normally.
How to turn it off. If you'd rather not have it around, open Chrome's settings, search for "Gemini," and you'll find a "Gemini in Chrome" section — usually under an "AI innovations" heading — where you can toggle the feature off entirely, or leave it on but turn off individual pieces like page-content sharing. Turning the whole thing off removes both the icon and the side panel; you can always switch it back on the same way later.
The bottom line. This isn't a scam or a bug — it's Google's real, ongoing rollout of AI features into Chrome, and it's optional. If you find it useful for comparing tabs or drafting emails, it's worth trying. If you'd rather your browser stayed as it was, turning it off takes under a minute. For a closer look at what Gemini can do elsewhere in Google's apps, see our guide to Gemini in Google Docs and Gmail.