Desktop Chrome is getting a feature very similar to Circle to Search

Google Lens on Chrome for desktop is getting an AI-powered update that could make it feel like a desktop version of Circle to Search. As part of a Chrome update, Google will let you click a new button directly in the search box to activate Google Lens and select what you want to search. Then, thanks to a sidebar that appears within the tab you are looking at, you will be able to do a “multiple search” or a search containing the text and image you found with Lens.

The feature could be a more useful way to search, especially since you won’t have to leave the page you’re viewing by doing a separate Google search or opening a new tab.

(Note that you’ve already been able to activate Google Lens with a right-click or three-dot menu and see results in a sidebar on Chrome for desktop, but new here is the Google Lens icon in the search bar and the ability to multi-search directly from the sidebar.)

The update enabling this feature is scheduled to roll out “in the coming days” globally, according to a blog post by Chrome VP Parisa Tabriz. Search results that appear in the sidebar may include Google’s sometimes bizarre AI overviews, but that feature will only be available to U.S. users, said Google spokesman Joshua Cruz. On the edge.

Google is also adding an AI-based feature to Chrome that will essentially allow you to ask questions about your search history to help you find a link you want to look at again. Tabriz gives the example of asking “what was that ice cream shop I visited last week?” to see relevant links in your ice cream history.

The tool, which will be launched “in the coming weeks” in the US on Chrome for desktop, is optional and will feature a cloud-based model to enhance results. In a briefing with reporters, Tabriz discussed the possibility of letting the model run on the device “once we can get quality performance where we think it’s a great user experience.”