Putting Gemini to Work in Chrome

Google is stuffing its Gemini assistant straight into Chrome with a new side panel, deeper links to Gmail/Calendar/YouTube, and an “auto browse” agent that can handle multi-step chores. There’s also Personal Intelligence (memory if you opt in) and a hilariously named image tool, Nano Banana, to remix pics on the fly. Sounds like a super butler, right? The internet can’t agree.

The hype squad showed up first: one fan crowed it “goes head-to-head” with OpenAI’s tools, calling Chrome’s auto browse a genuine level-up. But the skeptics were louder. “Does anyone actually want this?” asked one user, while another insisted browsing isn’t the problem: opening a new tab to sign up or send an email works just fine. Translation: if your boss is a browser, do you really need a nanny too?

Then came the ethics alarm. One commenter branded in-browser AI image editing as “deeply evil,” fearing you’ll be able to tweak anyone’s pictures without leaving a tab. Meanwhile, Nano Banana became instant meme bait, and one poster deadpanned, “I feel whole again. Thank you Googool,” capturing the love-it-or-laugh-at-it vibe. Bottom line: fans see a web-wide helper; critics see overreach, creep factor, and a solution looking for a problem. The battle for your sidebar begins now.