Google Stuffs Chrome Full of AI Features Whether You Like It or Not

Posted4 months agoActive3 months ago

wahvinci

24 points

15 comments

theregister.comTechstory

heatednegative

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80/100

Google ChromeAI IntegrationBrowser Privacy

Key topics

Google Chrome

AI Integration

Browser Privacy

Google is integrating more AI features into Chrome, sparking concerns among users about anti-competitive practices and potential negative impacts on browser performance and privacy.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

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Moderate engagement

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Comment distribution15 data points

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Based on 15 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Sep 20, 2025 at 12:45 AM EDT
4 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Sep 20, 2025 at 3:19 AM EDT
3h after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
6 comments in 6-12h
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04Latest activity
Sep 22, 2025 at 8:12 AM EDT
3 months ago
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Discussion (15 comments)

Showing 15 comments

RaSoJo

4 months ago

1 reply

I switched from Chrome to Brave six months ago.

Why can’t Alphabet just leave Chrome alone? They already have so many cash cows. Stuffing Chrome with AI gimmicks makes it clunky and unusable — and when that happens, people will just migrate to other browsers. Alphabet should revisit its own history and remember the great migration from Internet Explorer to Chrome.

general1465

3 months ago

1 reply

AI features must be there, considering how much money has been spent into developing these features. However putting these features inside will drive people away from Chrome, while not putting these features inside will make shareholders angry because line is not going up.

Alphabet is in lose-lose situation.

1718627440

3 months ago

They could just release these features as a core plugin, which is seamlessly installed on enabling it in settings.

conartist6

3 months ago

3 replies

I already switched to Firefox after manifest v3 but now I might have to uninstall Chrome... Call me Neo, but I don't want agents in my computer. Chromium should do nicely as a backup browser though. Not that it matters much anyway as I'm about ready to leave Windows for similar reasons: complete mismatch of core values leading development in a direction that to me makes the product worse and worse and worse

mort96

3 months ago

1 reply

I wish switching to Firefox was a solution here, but Mozilla has been pushing these AI features hard for a while now.

braebo

3 months ago

2 replies

Brave is a privacy-focused, de-googled chromium. It’s the best of both worlds. I never see anyone mention it here, so I’m a bit of a broken record explaining this to hn’ers who missed the memo and are stuck on Firefox almost reflexively.

mort96

3 months ago

Brave isn't any better than the rest, it's just riding a different hype train. It's a cryptocurrency browser because that's what was "in" when it was created.

The issues laid out here more or less match my own reasons for disliking Brave: https://thelibre.news/no-really-dont-use-brave/

conartist6

3 months ago

I have it installed, but it doesn't feel like it belongs to me. They want to be making crypto wallets and and secondary advertising markets and AI search engines. Almost none of what they do provides any value to me over Chromium.

Talk to me again if they ever get serious about anti-fingerprinting. AFAIK even their aggressive protections are woefully inadequate when tested on the Panopticlick

estimator7292

3 months ago

Firefox is honestly just as bad as chrome now. The only sane experience to be had is with a Firefox fork. I use Librewolf and Fennec, but there's lots and lots of them.

bogzz

3 months ago

I made the switch almost exactly two years ago now-- couldn't be happier. I picked PopOS.

faangguyindia

3 months ago

1 reply

Everyone knows if you stop AI adoption, AGI may send you to gulags once it takes over the planet. /s

braebo

3 months ago

Plenty of ways to get into a gulag in the USA these days, what’s one more?

redbell

4 months ago

It's only Google, Microsoft is also heavily pushing Copilot on its products, mainly Windows and Office and, by next month, it will start forcing install the Microsoft 365 Copilot App (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45251593).

SilverElfin

4 months ago

No one wants this. It’s just a way for them to push their AI products through existing products like chrome. In other words it’s the same anti competitive bundling we see with other giants like Microsoft bundling teams into office

JdeBP

3 months ago

Ongoing parallel discussions of the same thing, as reported by various news sources and by Google itself:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45297331 (gemini.Google)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45292260 (blog.Google 1)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45292163 (blog.Google 2)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45300679 (blog.Google 2)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45297955 (omgubuntu)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45296416 (thenewstack)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45306898 (arstechnica)

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45292637 (wired)

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