I Finally Found a Good Use for Google Chrome's AI Assistant

I spend a lot of time in PFD manuals looking for specs and information on products, and I just found a feature of the AI assistant that changed my world.

Since the Made by Google event in August, I’ve been seeing minor changes in my Chrome browser, most focusing on AI, but if I’m honest, I tend to ignore them. At least, I did ignore them until the Chrome AI assistant popped up on a PDF I was searching through in the browser and suggested I just ask it the question I wanted to know.

It really was that simple. I typed in the question, and the AI returned the answer. In my mind, this is useful for so many people, including students. Google announced a new feature in Gemini on Thursday that works in a similar manner to pull information from student text books. This feature specifically uses textbooks from OpenStax and lets students ask Gemini to pull information from the textbook. The AI returns a “clear, concise explanation complete with links to relevant textbook content,” according to the announcement post on The Keyword blog.

Of course, that feature also comes with some other new capabilities, like the ability to test your knowledge with Gemini-created quizzes that can also provide feedback and hints, as well as a new Gems Learning Coach that can help students create customized learning plans.

Seems like maybe it’s time for me to start paying a little more attention to the ways that Gemini and the Chrome AI assistant can help me get through some of the dull-as-dishwater tasks that I face every day.