TL;DR:

• Google has rolled out a side-by-side view for AI Mode in Chrome desktop, so clicking a result opens the page next to an ongoing AI conversation rather than replacing it.
• A new “plus” menu on desktop and mobile lets users pull content from open tabs — including images and PDFs — into an AI Mode query.
• The update is live in the United States first, with wider rollout to follow; UK users will want to note the data-flow implications of tabs feeding Google’s AI Mode search context.

The update addresses what Google calls “tab hopping” — the break in context caused by flicking between Search and the sites it surfaces. In AI Mode’s new split view, the browser now keeps the conversation open alongside whichever site the user clicks through to.

The tab-context pull

The more consequential change is the plus-menu integration. From the New Tab page search box, or from inside AI Mode, users can pick recent tabs to inject as query context. Google’s examples include stitching together class notes, lecture slides and academic papers from open tabs, or combining several hiking-trail sites into one tailored query. The plus menu also supports mixing images and files such as PDFs into an AI Mode conversation and accesses tools like Canvas and image generation.

What this means for UK users

Two questions follow for UK users once the feature reaches these shores. First, data handling: tab content pulled into AI Mode leaves the user’s local context and is processed in Google’s AI pipeline. Enterprise Chrome deployments with data-loss-prevention policies will want to audit whether the plus menu is exposed to managed users. Second, publisher impact: if searches increasingly resolve without a click-through because the answer arrives in AI Mode with tabs as context, UK media and e-commerce traffic patterns move further toward the AI-summary endpoint — a shift already underway with Search Generative Experience.

Competitive context

Chrome’s split-view move mirrors what Microsoft shipped in Edge with Copilot earlier and echoes the dedicated AI browsers from Perplexity and Arc. The distinguishing feature here is scale: Chrome’s UK desktop share is roughly 65%, meaning a Google browser feature becomes de facto UK behaviour faster than any competitor’s equivalent.

Looking forward

Two signals to watch. The first is whether Google ships the tab-context feature under the same policies UK enterprises apply to Search, or whether admins get a separate toggle — the answer will shape IT procurement decisions. The second is how the publisher ecosystem responds: if AI Mode makes side-by-side reading easier, traffic may rise on the primary landing page; if it makes citation-free summarisation more fluent, it will fall.