Google Lens is coming to Chrome: Here’s how to try it out now

Over the past few years, AI has been quietly revolutionizing the Chrome experience without many of us even noticing, making it faster, safer, and more helpful. From blocking malicious sites to providing real-time captions, Google says AI is often working behind the scenes to enhance your browsing. Now, Google is taking it a step further with three new AI-powered features including Google Lens in Chrome desktop and on Chromebooks that leverage the latest Google AI and Gemini models.

Tab Compare: Streamlining online shopping

Before we get to Google Lens, let’s talk through a few other helpful AI features coming to the browser, and first up is Tab Compare. We’ve all been there, juggling multiple tabs while comparing products online. Chrome’s new Tab Compare feature aims to simplify this process with the help of AI. When you have multiple product pages open, Chrome will offer to generate a comparison table, bringing together key details like specs, features, price, and ratings into one convenient view. No more frantic tab switching – make informed decisions with ease.

Search your browsing history with questions

Ever struggled to find that website you visited last week but can’t quite remember? Chrome’s history search is getting a conversational AI upgrade. Simply type a natural language query like, “What was that ice cream shop I looked at last week?” and Chrome will surface relevant pages from your history. This feature is entirely optional and respects your privacy by excluding incognito mode data.

These AI-powered enhancements demonstrate Chrome’s commitment to making your browsing experience more efficient and informative. By harnessing the power of AI, Google continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in a web browser, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Google Lens comes to Desktop and Chromebooks

Google Lens and Circle to Search have been a game-changer on mobile, making it effortless to search based on what you see. Now, finally, this powerful tool is coming to your desktop Chrome and Chromebook browser. When it officially launches, you’ll be able to just click the Lens icon in the address bar, drag the cursor across anything on a webpage to highlight it, and Lens will work it magic to identify whatever you’ve highlighted and then provide relevant information in a side panel.

Want to know more about a plant in an image? Lens will identify it and even give you in-depth information with an AI-generated overview. And if you’re shopping online Lens can identify products in videos and help you find them for purchase. The possibilities are endless, and it’s all just a click away in your address bar.

How to enable Google Lens in Chrome for desktop and Chromebook

If you’re not seeing the Google Lens icon in the address bar on your device and want to try it out for yourself right now, you’ll need to enable an experimental flag. By doing so, you’ll get access to part of the Google Lens in Chrome feature before it officially rolls out. Here are the steps to try Google Lens in Chrome!

Step 1: Enable the “Lens Overlay” flag

Head over to your Chrome flags page at https://chrome://flags and search for “Lens overlay” or “#enable-lens-overlay” and click the drop-down on the right to enable it. Then select the blue “Relaunch” button that pops up on the bottom of the page. This feature is currently supported on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, and Lacros.

Step 2: Right-Click to “Search with Google Lens”

Enabling this flag doesn’t give you the Lens icon in the address bar like it will show up eventually. For the time being with this flag enabled, you’ll have to right-click and then select “Search with Google Lens” to launch the “drag to search” overlay.

The first time you try Google Lens in Chrome, a notification box will pop up saying that you can “search anything on this page” and that when you use this feature, a screenshot is sent to Google. If you want to go on, just click the “Continue” button.

Step 3: Drag to Search with Google Lens

Drag your cursor to create a box around whatever you want to search. You can also adjust the size of your box by grabbing the corners to refine your search. You can select an image, text, or even highlight words written in another language to translate. Note: I did try to use a touchscreen Chromebook to circle on the screen but this did not work.

After creating your selection, Google Lens will then give you results in a side panel. You can then further refine results by using Multisearch to add details to the search like a specific brand or you can even a question to dive deeper.

And that’s it, it’s that simple to start using Google Lens in Chrome! The great thing about this feature is that you can search anything on your screen including anything you see within a video you’re watching, a slide in a livestream, or an image on a webpage. This gives you the power to search for anything on the web, even if you can’t describe it in a search query, all without leaving your current tab.

I’m hoping this feature will roll out to everyone soon, especially since Google released the feature video on YouTube 2 weeks ago. Let us know what you think about these new AI features in the comments below.