Google updates AI Mode in Chrome so it no longer disappears when you switch tabs

Google has updated AI Mode in the Chrome browser: the chat interface for search now stays active for the entire session and no longer disappears when you follow links or open new tabs.

Before this update, users who started a conversation with AI Mode lost the context of the dialogue as soon as they clicked a link in the results and moved to a third-party site. They had to return to the chat interface from scratch. That broke the flow of the search and frustrated people used to working across several tabs at once.

Under the new behavior, AI Mode "sticks" to the search session. You can open a result in a separate tab, read the page, come back, and the chat context will still be there. Google pitches the feature as a way to make AI search a natural part of the whole research process rather than a separate tool you have to deliberately go back to.

AI Mode in Chrome is an experimental feature that the company has been actively developing since early 2025. In essence, it is a Gemini-powered chat search built into the browser: users ask a question in the address bar or the side panel, get a detailed answer with sources, and can refine the query conversationally. Google promotes the feature as an alternative to switching between tabs with regular search results and ChatGPT.

The update looks like a direct response to how people actually behave: many open dozens of tabs while searching for information, a habit known as tab hopping. Google wants to keep users inside its ecosystem by offering an AI assistant that accompanies them along the entire journey instead of getting lost at the first click.

This matters strategically for Google. The company competes with Perplexity, ChatGPT, and other AI search engines that were built as chat-first products from the start. Integrating AI Mode directly into Chrome is an attempt to use the browser's dominant position to keep search traffic inside Google.

It is not yet clear how well the new behavior works in complex scenarios, such as with dozens of tabs open at once. But the direction is obvious: Google is rethinking the browser as an environment for AI search, not just a tool for opening pages.