Google has updated its Chrome browser with two new features that make use of Artificial Intelligence. These include Enhanced Protection and Browser History Search, which can not only help you keep yourself better protected while surfing the web but also make searching your browser history faster and easier.

Enabling AI-powered Enhanced Protection

The new Enhanced Protection feature in Chrome utilizes the power of AI to warn you when you try to visit potentially unsafe pages. It relies on Google's Safe Browsing which checks websites against a list of malicious URLs stored on your device. With the update, Chrome will now check websites against a similar list on the server side and use AI to scan files more deeply and block attacks while also providing better protection against harmful extensions. Here is how you can enable AI-powered protection in Google Chrome on your system.

  1. Open Chrome and click on the three dots on the top right.
  1. Now, click on 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.
  1. Once the Settings page opens, click on 'Privacy and Security' on the left.
  1. Now, click on 'Security'.
  1. Finally, click on the 'Enhanced protection' option to select it. When you turn on enhanced protection, Chrome will try to block 25% more phishing attempts.

You can also use everyday language to find what you are looking for in your Chrome browsing history without having to know the exact web address or keyword. This means even if you do not remember the website name, you can use Chrome's AI to find it as long as you remember what it contained or which type of website it was.

  1. Open the Chrome settings page as explained above and click on 'Experimental AI' on the left.
  1. Click on the 'History search, powered by AI' toggle to turn on the feature.
  1. Once the feature is enabled, you can simply open your browsing history and type what you are looking for, such as 'PC parts store I was looking at last week'. Chrome will show you the results from your browsing history.
Note: Google Chrome's AI-powered Browsing History Search is an experimental feature and is currently only available in the US for Chrome English users.

Things to know

  • Earlier, Chrome had a Proactive Protection feature that offered greater protection than Standard protection. The new AI-powered Enhanced Protection is replacing this Proactive Protection feature now.
  • When you turn on Enhanced Protection, information about the URLs you visit, your browsing activity, and other information like your downloads and system information is sent to Google Safe Browsing. This can pose a privacy concern so only turn this on if you are fine with Google accessing such information.
  • When searching your browsing history using AI-powered search, be as detailed and precise as possible for the best results. You can also filter the results by various time periods.
  • The AI-powered browsing history search will not show you results from your browsing history in incognito mode.