Google Launches Gemini AI in Chrome Across Asia-Pacific
▼ Summary
– Google is expanding its Gemini in Chrome AI feature to several new APAC countries, including Australia, Indonesia, and South Korea.
– The rollout applies to desktop and iOS in these countries, with Japan being the sole exception for the mobile launch.
– The feature includes a sidebar assistant that can answer questions across tabs and connect to Google services like Gmail for personalized help.
– It also allows users to perform actions like scheduling meetings or editing web images using integrated tools like Nano Banana 2.
– A more advanced, agentic feature that controls the browser is currently only in testing for paid U.S. users on specific plans.
Google has now expanded access to its Gemini AI assistant directly within the Chrome browser across key Asia-Pacific markets. This significant rollout, announced this week, brings the integrated AI tool to users in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. The feature is launching for both desktop and iOS platforms in these nations, with Japan being a notable exception for the iOS version at this time.
This move represents the latest step in Google’s ongoing strategy to deeply embed its Gemini AI capabilities into the browsing experience. The company began integrating AI features into Chrome last year, initially through a floating action button. The current implementation is far more robust, centered around a sidebar-based assistant that users can activate to interact with web content and their own data.
The functionality of Gemini in Chrome is designed to be both helpful and personalized. It can answer questions by drawing information from across open browser tabs. More powerfully, it leverages Personal Intelligence by connecting to linked Google services like Gmail, Photos, Calendar, and Maps. This allows the assistant to provide tailored responses, schedule appointments, check location details, or draft and send emails without leaving the current webpage. Users can also experiment with creative tools, such as transforming web images using the experimental Nano Banana 2 model directly from the sidebar.
Previously, this integrated feature was exclusive to users in the United States following its initial launch in January. Google then expanded availability to India, Canada, and New Zealand in March. The latest APAC expansion marks a major geographical broadening of access, bringing these AI-powered browsing aids to millions of new users.
It is important to distinguish this widely available sidebar assistant from Google’s more advanced agentic feature, which remains in a limited testing phase. That experimental capability, which can take control of the browser to autonomously complete multi-step tasks, is currently only accessible to subscribers of the paid AI Pro and AI Ultra plans, and solely within the United States. For now, the global rollout focuses on the core assistant designed to augment, not automate, the user’s own browsing workflow.
(Source: TechCrunch)
