Google Tests Dedicated AI Mode Button Embedded Directly in Chrome Toolbar
Google is testing a dedicated “Google Search AI Mode” button that would sit permanently on the Chrome toolbar, giving users one-click access to an AI side panel without leaving their current page.
The feature surfaced in Chrome Canary — the browser’s experimental, early-access build — and was first spotted by Windows Report. It places a persistent shortcut directly beside a user’s extensions and profile icon.
Clicking the button slides open a side panel that analyzes the active tab’s content. Users Can ask questions about whatever article or document they have open, or drop in files for the AI to process.
How to Enable It Now
The button does not appear by default. Users must navigate to `chrome://flags`, enable the “Contextual Tasks Pin Button In Toolbar” option, then toggle the AI setting inside the New Tab Page‘s customization menu.
Even then, results vary. Testing on Chrome Canary v151.0.7898.0 on Mac produced no visible button despite the flag being active.
Branding Still in Flux
Google has not locked in a name for the feature. Developers are reportedly testing alternatives, including the simpler label “Browse with AI,” to gauge which phrasing resonates with test users.
The move follows an earlier Chrome flag that routed Address Bar searches directly into AI Mode. Google later described that flag as an error.
A Clearer Push Into the Core Browser
Chrome already surfaces AI shortcuts inside the omnibox — the combined address and search bar — and on the new tab page. This toolbar button would go further by keeping AI visible at all times, regardless of what page a user has open.
Google appears to be betting that a constant visual prompt will shift user behavior away from traditional keyword searches and toward conversational AI queries.
Users can currently disable the button through the customization menu. Whether Google keeps it optional when the update reaches the stable channel — the version available to the general public — remains unclear.
