Google turns Chrome into an AI coworker for the workplace

Source: TechCrunch

Overview

As part of its slate of Google Cloud Next announcements, Google unveiled “auto‑browse” agentic capabilities for Chrome users in the enterprise, along with enhanced security measures.

Auto‑Browse Capabilities

With auto‑browse, Chrome users can leverage Gemini to understand the live context in their open tabs and use AI to handle tasks such as:

• Booking travel
• Inputting data
• Scheduling meetings
• Pulling key data from competitor product pages

Google suggests the tool could be used for scenarios like:

• Populating a company’s preferred CRM system from content in a Google Doc
• Comparing vendor pricing across tabs
• Summarizing a candidate’s portfolio before an interview

The workflow still requires a “human in the loop,” meaning users must manually review and confirm the AI’s input before any final action takes place. The goal is to speed up tedious tasks so people can focus on more “strategic work.”

Enterprise Impact

Studies have shown that AI can sometimes intensify work rather than reduce it. Harvard Business Review discusses this trend. It remains to be seen how the feature will affect enterprise productivity and expectations.

The new feature will initially be available to Workspace users in the U.S. It can be enabled via a policy, and Google states that an organization’s prompts won’t be used to train its AI models—a disclosure increasingly important as companies like Meta record employee keystrokes to train their models.

Like the consumer‑facing version, Workspace users can save common workflows as “Skills,” which can be accessed by typing a forward slash (/) or clicking the plus sign.

Security Enhancements

Google is also expanding its ability to detect unsanctioned AI tools in the workplace through Chrome Enterprise Premium. The new “Shadow IT risk detection” feature gives IT teams visibility into both sanctioned and unsanctioned Gen AI and SaaS usage, helping to identify compromised browser extensions or anomalous agent activity.

IT teams will receive a “Gemini Summary” of Chrome Enterprise release notes and AI‑powered suggestions, surfacing critical changes, new policies, upcoming deprecations, and configuration recommendations.

Additional security updates include:

• An expanded partnership with Okta to reduce session hijacking
• Upgraded controls for extensions
• Integration with Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) to enforce consistent security policies

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