Editorial illustration for Google's AI mode will open linked pages beside search on Chrome desktop
Google Chrome's AI Search Shows Links Instantly
Google's AI mode will open linked pages beside search on Chrome desktop
Google is now forcing external links from its AI mode to open in a side panel on Chrome desktop. Click one, and the page loads in a narrow window right beside the search dialog. The company detailed the shift in a blog post Wednesday. Essentially, it treats the open webpage as just another data source for its own synthesized answers.
According to Google's blog post, clicking a link in AI mode will soon open the target page directly next to the search input on Chrome desktop. Users never leave the search dialog, and the website just becomes a context window alongside the chat. Technically, Chrome loads the page, but the actual conversation about its content happens in the chat beside it.
When users ask a question, AI mode pulls from the open page along with other web sources to deliver a synthesized answer. The website turns into a supporting actor for Google's response.
This fundamentally reorients the browser. The external site becomes raw material, stripped and fed into Google's interface where the real conversation happens. For publishers, it's a stark deal: their pages load, but their branding, layout, and ads are sidelined.
The link still works. You just never truly arrive.
Related Reading
Browse all Google news →
LLMs & Generative AI ChatGPT's 'Nerdy' tweak rewards goblin metaphors in answers, study finds
LLMs & Generative AI Google tests visual 'magazine-style' UI for Gemini 3 Pro users
LLMs & Generative AI AI Engineers Face Rising Costs, Need New Strategies for Efficiency
Related Topic NVIDIA and Google Cloud let developers scale AI from prototype to production
Market Trends
Related Topic Google's FACTS benchmark shows 70% factuality ceiling across four tests
Research & Benchmarks
Same Week 91% of businesses now use video marketing — AI cut the cost of keeping up by 91% too
Market Trends
From Archives Physical Intelligence robot model shows LLM-like skill composition, flaws noted
From Archives OpenAI's Codex powers Lovable AI, letting millions create apps from text
From Archives Google adds ‘Skills’ to Chrome, enabling one‑click Gemini AI prompts
Business & Startups
From Archives Gemini app uses Google Photos to generate personalized images
Common Questions Answered
How will Google's new AI mode change the way users interact with search results in Chrome?
Google's AI mode will now open linked web pages in a narrow pane beside the search dialog, allowing users to view referenced content without leaving the conversation. This approach transforms the web page into a supplemental context window, keeping the AI chat as the primary focus of the browsing experience.
What additional features does the AI mode plus menu offer in Chrome?
The plus menu in AI mode allows users to feed open tabs, images, or PDFs directly into the AI model for analysis. The model can then return a brief summary of the content and provide links to related information, creating a more integrated and streamlined research experience.
How does the AI mode source information when answering user questions?
When a user asks a question, the AI mode pulls information from the currently open web page as well as other web sources to generate a synthesized answer. This approach enables the AI to provide comprehensive and contextually relevant responses by drawing from multiple sources simultaneously.
Further Reading
- Chrome's AI Mode Just Got Smarter With Side-by-Side Search and Tab Integration — ChatAI
- Google now lets you explore the web side-by-side with AI Mode — TechCrunch via NewsBreak
- Get AI-powered responses with AI Mode in Google Search - Computer — Google Support
