Google’s just rolled out Gemini 3 inside Chrome, and it’s not just another AI add-on. This version goes far beyond autocomplete or chatbots it’s a full-blown agentic assistant that can browse, plan, and make decisions online.

On paper, that sounds convenient; your browser helping you schedule appointments, fill out forms, compare products, and even summarize long articles automatically. But under the surface, it’s something far more consequential, it’s Google reengineering the very idea of using the open web.

A Browser That Thinks (or Pretends To)

With the new side panel, Gemini lives right inside Chrome. You no longer switch between tabs to “search” for something you ask Gemini, and it pulls answers, recommendations, and context directly into the interface. You can even compare information or generate content without visiting separate sites.

Here’s the problem; the more Gemini does for you, the less you actually interact with the web itself. Websites the backbone of online information and commerce become background noise in a process run by Google’s AI.

It’s convenient, yes, but it’s also a subtle shift of power; from you browsing the web, to Google browsing it for you, whether that is a good thing or not, is up for debate.

The Auto-Browse Question

Google’s new auto browse function takes this further. It promises to “complete tasks” automatically, things like renewing your driver’s license, checking bills, or gathering quotes. To do this, Gemini effectively impersonates a user and navigates the web on your behalf, using stored passwords and data from Google services.

For me that raises a plethora of uncomfortable questions.

What happens to privacy when a corporate AI has authority to act as you?

How many terms of service did you just agree to without seeing them?

Who’s accountable when something goes wrong, like submitting the wrong data, generating false information, or “deciding” which website gets your business?

The Connected Ecosystem or Walled Garden?

Google says Gemini can now pull information directly from Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Maps, and Shopping to help with “contextual” tasks. That means: if you ask about an upcoming trip, it can access your flight emails, pull hotel data, and generate summaries.

But this is also the perfect trap. To make full use of it, you have to stay inside the Google ecosystem. The more you rely on it, the less you leave. It’s digital dependency disguised as productivity.

Commerce Becomes Automated (& Invisible)

The other piece of this puzzle is Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a system that lets AI agents (like Gemini) interact directly with online stores. The idea; standardize how AI “talks” to websites so it can shop for you.

This sounds efficient until you realize it turns the internet into something AI agents use, not people. When Gemini chooses which retailers it “prefers” or which products it “recommends,” you won’t know what deals or sites were filtered out. Commercial visibility could shift from SEO to AI alignment.

The Bigger Picture

Gemini 3 isn’t just an AI upgrade for Chrome. It’s Google repositioning control over the internet’s discovery layer the process of how people find and interact with information. When Gemini intermediates that process, everything changes; visibility, competition, and trust to name a few.

Marketers, journalists, educators even developers will increasingly need to optimize not for users, but for AI systems interpreting users’ intent.

And if Gemini keeps people from clicking links altogether, the implications for web traffic, ranking, and monetization are enormous…so much for traditional SEO.