ChatGPT Now Lives in Chrome and Can Act on Your Open Tabs

OpenAI has turned ChatGPT into a full assistant inside Google Chrome. Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store and ChatGPT can look at the tabs you already have open, then answer questions about them or, in a second mode, act on them. According to The Decoder, it is open to all ChatGPT plans, free ones included.

There are two modes. In Chat mode, ChatGPT pulls information from several tabs at once. You can point it at a specific page with @chrome, which is handy for summarising a long article or comparing products across shops. OpenAI’s own example compares items by size, material, shipping time and return rules. Work mode goes further: it uses what OpenAI calls Computer Use, meaning the model clicks and types in the browser the way you would. It can send messages, fill in forms, download files and group your tabs. A sidebar keeps your full chat history next to the page you are looking at.

Here is the part worth slowing down for. Reading a page is one thing. Acting on a page is another. When an assistant can press “send” or “submit” for you, a mistake stops being a wrong answer and becomes a real email, a real form entry or a real download. The article does not describe permission prompts, data handling or privacy controls, so those are the first things to check in the extension’s settings before you trust it with anything important.

The bigger picture, in plain terms: the chatbot used to live in its own tab, and you had to copy and paste whatever you wanted help with. Now it sits where the work happens. That is the same direction every big lab is heading, because an assistant that sees your screen needs far less explaining from you. The trade-off is that it also sees far more of your screen. Reportedly, OpenAI pairs this with its newest Computer Use model, but that claim comes from the coverage, not from an independent test.

What this means for you: if you are new to AI tools, try Chat mode first. Asking “compare these three tabs” is low risk and shows you quickly what the idea is good for. If you already use ChatGPT daily, Work mode is where the time savings are, but start with harmless tasks like grouping tabs, and keep an eye on what it does before letting it send anything. Close tabs with banking, health or work mail before you start a session. And for most people, a few weeks of cautious testing beats switching it on everywhere on day one.

Sources

• The Decoder: ChatGPT becomes a full Chrome browser assistant
• ChatGPT extension in the Chrome Web Store