Google is implementing AI in all its products, Chrome being one of them. Recently, Chrome added AI to its browsing history feature, which means that AI will help you search and retrieve websites you have visited previously. However, this raises the question of to what extent should AI access and learn from our browsing history and data?
For example, paying for cloud backups is considered a hassle until your device is lost or stolen and your data is stored in the backup. Similarly, AI in Chrome’s history search can help you find web pages based on their content, not just the page title or URL. Last week, researcher Leopeva64 spotted hints of this new AI feature, but details are still scarce.
Luckily, Chrome is evolving, and Google has updated its history search feature, which allows you to search your browsing history based on the actual content of the web page, making searching your browsing history much faster, whether you’re browsing a history page or searching directly from the address bar using “@history” followed by a keyword.
Despite the benefits, AI in browsing history raises legitimate privacy concerns. Leopeva64’s findings show that Google acknowledges this through a disclaimer, stating that Google and its human reviewers may access certain data, such as your search terms, related webpage content, and AI-generated output. Google assures that this data is encrypted and stored locally on your device to support its history search feature.
AI needs data to function, but privacy-conscious users will be uncomfortable with this disclosure. Processing data locally on the device would be more private, similar to Microsoft’s Copilot AI Recall feature, which was criticized and postponed over similar privacy concerns.
The acceptance of Chrome’s history search feature will depend on whether it is an optional feature or a default feature to accelerate AI development. The feature is still under development by Google, so user reaction will be key. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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