Context
Google added an AI Mode side-by-side webpage view in Chrome desktop and the ability to include recent tabs, images and files as contextual inputs to AI Mode queries.
What changed
Users could open a linked webpage alongside AI Mode and ask contextual follow-ups; Chrome desktop and mobile gained selection of recent tabs as query inputs, combinable with images and PDFs. Google said these updates were available in the U.S.
Why it matters
Browser-integrated AI discovery combines algorithmic web retrieval with user-selected page and file context, creating a different route by which publisher content enters an AI conversation.
Visibility OS interpretation
Visibility OS interpretation: distinguish model-selected cited sources from pages manually provided as browser context; neither path alone establishes organic ranking performance.
What remains uncertain
What fraction of AI Mode engagements originate from side-by-side browsing or user-selected tabs? What traffic and citations result? Google did not provide these figures.