Google Is Baking Gemini AI Into Chrome (pcworld.com) 54
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCWorld: Microsoft famously brought its Copilot AI to the Edge browser in Windows. Now Google is doing the same with Chrome. In a list of announcements that spanned dozens of pages, Google allocated just a single line to the announcement: "Gemini is coming to Chrome, so you can ask questions while browsing the web." Google later clarified what Gemini on Chrome can do: "This first version allows you to easily ask Gemini to clarify complex information on any webpage you're reading or summarize information," the company said in a blog post. "In the future, Gemini will be able to work across multiple tabs and navigate websites on your behalf."
Other examples of what Gemini can do involves coming up with personal quizzes based on material in the Web page, or altering what the page suggests, like a recipe. In the future, Google plans to allow Gemini in Chrome to work on multiple tabs, navigate within Web sites, and automate tasks. Google said that you'll be able to either talk or type commands to Gemini. To access it, you can use the Alt+G shortcut in Windows. [...] You'll see Gemini appear in Chrome as early as this week, Google executives said -- on May 21, a representative clarified. However, you'll need to be a Gemini subscriber to take advantage of its features, a requirement that Microsoft does not apply with Copilot for Edge. Otherwise, Google will let those who participate in the Google Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary programs test it out.
Other examples of what Gemini can do involves coming up with personal quizzes based on material in the Web page, or altering what the page suggests, like a recipe. In the future, Google plans to allow Gemini in Chrome to work on multiple tabs, navigate within Web sites, and automate tasks. Google said that you'll be able to either talk or type commands to Gemini. To access it, you can use the Alt+G shortcut in Windows. [...] You'll see Gemini appear in Chrome as early as this week, Google executives said -- on May 21, a representative clarified. However, you'll need to be a Gemini subscriber to take advantage of its features, a requirement that Microsoft does not apply with Copilot for Edge. Otherwise, Google will let those who participate in the Google Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary programs test it out.
Can it be turned off? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or am I switching to another browser? Any other browser, except Edge?
Re:Can it be turned off? (Score:4, Informative)
I cannot imagine the Vivaldi people will not include an option to tun this off or maybe will not even include it. Pretty good (chromium) browser though.
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Many Chrome features need to be licensed first anyway. For a long time you needed to download widevine yourself when using vivaldi.
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Long live Vivaldi :)
Re: Can it be turned off? (Score:2)
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And while it may start off with an off switch (defaulting to turned on, of course), it won't last. And then it won't be occasional hints related to whatever you're doing, it'll be shoving less and less stealthy ads into your face all the time, until there's literally nothing else left.
It's not like we haven't seen this pattern before.
Re: Can it be turned off? (Score:2)
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And I assume *you're* trolling since Brave is the crypto-scam browser which is also part of the Google near-monoculture.
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Brave always had a sketchy crypto origin.
Re:Can it be turned off? (Score:4)
Can it be turned off?
The interactive part, yes. The part where it extracts more information about you while you browse, no.
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How could they possibly extract more information out of you than they already do?
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Palemoon https://www.palemoon.org/ [palemoon.org]
Oh dear (Score:5, Insightful)
"Gemini will be able to work across multiple tabs"
Cross site scripting hackers will be salivating already.
"Other examples of what Gemini can do involves coming up with personal quizzes based on material in the Web page, or altering what the page suggests"
IOW most of its functionalty is total garbage dreamt up by a committee of idiots.
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Yep. Web-app insecurity through use of AI. I am tempted to advertize a student-thesis in this one, but it is a bit too early yet. Maybe next year.
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Isn't that a privacy nightmare?
Re:Oh dear (Score:4, Informative)
What a nightmare.
Google should know better than literally anyone what a problem not only direct CSRF and XSS issues have been what a problem side channel attacks like history snooping and using CSS properties to test for vistited links etc, have been browser privacy.
How anyone thinks that allowing agent context exist beyond the Window (tab) level isn't going to be a security and privacy fiasco is mind boggling.
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Yep. Security nightmare, disaster in the making.
Years of effort has gone into trying to properly isolate and sandbox browser tabs - all to be blown away in one Chrome release.
Fucking morons.
Re:Oh dear (Score:4, Interesting)
altering what the page suggests
This sounds incredibly anti-competitive and borderline illegal. How quickly will Google start replacing ads from other ad networks with their own, or altering search results from Duck Duck Go?
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"Other examples of what Gemini can do involves coming up with personal quizzes based on material in the Web page, or altering what the page suggests"
Wonder how this would work? Gemini, block all Youtube advertisements
So, it's kinda like a search engine, only worse? (Score:2)
Didn't Google used to have a search engine? What happened to that?
This sounds like the prophesies of Douglas Adams, with "Genuine People Personalities(tm)" ("sounds awful!" ["it is"]) and the note about "first against the wall when the Revolution came".
Re:So, it's kinda like a search engine, only worse (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't Google used to have a search engine? What happened to that?
No idea. Have not used it in ages. Crappy result and too many ads.
Great! (Score:3)
Can we maybe not AI-ify every damn thing?
Yet another entry on the ever-growing list of reasons I won't use Chrome. I just hope it doesn't infect Chromium-based browsers.
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They simply had to internet-ify everything. Did you think they weren't going to AI-ify everything too?
Next up, they're going to subscription-ify everything that was previously internet and AI -ified.
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Imagine you're a worker at some big company and the boss buys you something to improve your productivity. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't, but that's irrelevant. You'll use it and best to have a good attitude about it (because what other choice do you have?).
This implies that everyone using the Chrome browser is working for Google. And while Google likes that view of the situation, I think you'll find that if we aren't getting a paycheck from them, despite the advertising dollars they're likely making from us, then technically, we don't actually work for them. They aren't actually our boss, even if you're kinky and kinda like the idea.
Re:Chrome : An AI LEFT WING WOKE PROPAGANDA machin (Score:4, Funny)
If DEI is the reason you're not trusting Google then your brain is more rotten than anyone could describe.
ads (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sorry Dave... (Score:3)
Ok Gemini, block all ads.
... you know the rest 8-P
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Firefox (Score:5, Interesting)
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I see that Lynx [invisible-island.net] is still around.
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Firefox "AI integration" is a sidebar that loads a webpage with query parameter ?s=Summarize+this+[webpagecontent]. If you don't click on "Summarize using AI", the integration does nothing. If you do not configure a provider to use for this it doesn't do anything at all even when you click.
The Internet Company Dream Coming True (Score:2)
"In the future, Gemini will be able to work across multiple tabs and navigate websites on your behalf."
In a world where clicks = revenue, having AI generate clicks on our behalf, whether we want it to or not, is the internet company fantasy come to life. AI will be "navigating" the web "for us" constantly, clicking faster than any human could ever dream, jumping links, site to site, generating ad revenue for its master, creating amazing statistics for the executives, while yet another level of trust in the web is eroded away and it becomes even less information and more invasive and stupid.
Fuck off, Google.
Jesus, people (Score:3)
I really hope 2025 is "peak ai", but I fear it isn't. We haven't had an NFT moment yet - some derivative product that's such an obviously stupid scam that even credulous morons caught up in a greed frenzy start to see it.
Time to start writing a chaffbot for this nonsense. If OpenMicroGoog want more content to surveil, wiring them up to feed each other token streams seems fair to me. I don't need to have anything to do with it.
The AI google search results are terrible (Score:2)
n/t
If Gemini were any good ... (Score:3)
If Gemini were any good, I wouldn't complain so much. But it's less than useless as an AI assistant. I get more coherent search results calling my elderly mother when she's on morphine.
In a list that spanned dozens of pages ... (Score:2)
You misspelled 'spammed'.
The problem with AI (Score:3)
is that it doesn't have a fiduciary duty to the customer using it. It only cares about the interests of the company who paid to develop and implement it.
Until AI is available which owes a fiduciary duty to the user who is using it, I'll have no part of it.
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Personally, I flat out avoid all of the online LLM services. You can run open models locally, and depending on your hardware, you can run quite good ones.
Some Gemini History Responses (Score:1)
filtering (Score:2)
I work at a site that HEAVILY filtered, and when you start natively integrating all this stuff into the OS and the browsers, it just creates more headaches.
Extensions that REMOVE Gemini will be popular (Score:1)
I wonder if they'll include free memory? (Score:2)
Like will they add another 32GB or so to my computer to account for the memory they are devoting to this new function which I don't want? It's embarrassing. "Speed, Security, Stability, Simplicity" indeed.
Translation (Score:2)
Flunky: Sir, nobody seems to want Gemini
Boss: PREPARE THE THROAT CRAMMER!