Google Lens support is being added to Chrome on the desktop along with other AI features

Google is using the beginning of August to announce a number of new features it is rolling out to its Chrome browser for desktop users. One of them will bring a feature that's already available for Chrome users on smartphones.

In a blog post, the company revealed it is bringing the Google Lens feature to Chrome on the PC sometime in the next few days. Best of all, this will work without Chrome users having to launch another tab in their browser. Google states:

To do this, you’ll select the Google Lens icon in the address bar, then click or drag over anything that you want to search; you can also invoke Google Lens from the right-click or three dot menu. After you make a selection, you’ll see visual matches and results in the side panel.

The blog post offers examples of how Google Lens can be used in Chrome on the desktop. If you find a picture of a plant and want to learn more about it, Google Lens will let you select that plant in the image to search more about it. If you watch a video lecture on YouTube about math and see an equation that interests you, Google Lens on Chrome can be accessed to search for more data on that equation.

Google will also be rolling out a new feature for US Chrome desktop users called Tab Compare in a few weeks. This is designed primarily for online shopping where users can sometimes open multiple tabs to research prices and info on products. Tab Compare is supposed to use AI features to bring all the info about those tabs in one location.

Finally, Google Chrome on the desktop will soon let users type in text prompts to find information from their browser history. It states:

Just access your history and type something like, "What was that ice cream shop I looked at last week?" and Chrome will show you relevant pages from your browsing history. Using this feature will be entirely optional. You can easily turn it on or off in your settings. This feature will also never include any browsing data from incognito mode.

This feature will also roll out to US users in the coming weeks.