I tried Gemini Spark in Chrome and it's the perfect AI for handling all the boring bits online
Date:
Wed, 05 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0000
Description:
Gemini Spark is designed to take on longer-running tasks that continue in the background and now it is part of the Chrome browser, so here's how it works.
FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter As soon as I heard that Gemini Spark was now part of the Chrome browser I had to try it for myself.
Gemini Spark is an AI agent designed to take on longer-running tasks that continue in the background. It's much smoother now thanks to an update that incorporates the platform directly into Google 's Chrome browser. So now the AI can actually browse the web alongside you, doing its own tasks, instead of simply talking about it, even if you close your browser. Before you can try Spark, you need the right ingredients. You will need the latest version of Google Chrome on Windows or macOS , a personal Google account, and either a Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra subscription. With the right subscriptions, you just need to set Safe Browsing to either Standard Protection or Enhanced Protection before Spark becomes available. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:
With those requirements out of the way, click the three dots in the upper right corner of Chrome and choose Settings, then AI Innovations or Gemini in the Chrome menu, where you can navigate to the Permissions section and switch on the Let Gemini browse for you option.
Now you can open the Ask Gemini panel at the top of Chrome and give it a task that benefits from browser access. Spark will show you its proposed plan before doing anything, and the first time you use it, Chrome will ask whether you want to connect your browser to Spark. Click Allow or Connect , and from then on you can start handing Spark more ambitious jobs. You may like Google just revealed Gemini Intelligence for Android and it looks great Google expands Gemini into an AI agent 5 prompts for Gemini 3.5 Flash showcasing its full potential
If something involves making a purchase, entering sensitive information, or confirming an important action, Spark pauses and asks for your approval
before continuing. The video below shows you exactly how Spark works: Comparison shopping (Image credit: Future) I first decided to see how the AI did at the often time-consuming but important chore of comparison shopping. I asked Gemini using Spark to find a good deal for a TV. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
Instead of asking which television I should buy, I gave Spark a proper assignment. I told it to compare prices for a 65-inch model at Amazon , Best Buy, Costco and Walmart, look for promo codes, and calculate the final price after discounts then prepare for checkout.
Spark didnt just provide a summary. I could watch the AI navigate to
different websites, try out different options, and work out which I might prefer.
When it found what it believed was the best option, it added the television
to the cart and stopped, waiting for me to approve the purchase before doing anything involving payment. What to read next Gemini takes over Google at i/O 2026 Google I/O 2026 key announcements from today's massive software
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Spark is happy to do the repetitive work, but it wont spend your money
without asking first. It feels like exactly the right balance between useful automation and common sense. Planning a family day out (Image credit: Future) My second experiment was slightly more ambitious because it combined several different tasks into one. I asked Spark to plan a family day out for two adults and two toddlers.
Normally that would have meant switching constantly between Google Maps , museum websites, restaurant reviews and booking pages. Spark simply got on with it. It compared opening hours, checked travel times, built a schedule that actually flowed logically through the day, found a restaurant with
online reservations and reserved it, then prepared the museum ticket purchase and before asking me to approve the bookings. AI for tedious tasks Spark
takes the tedium out of a library card application. (Image credit: Future) Google claims Spark is great at filling out paperwork, especially using information from your own Google accounts. As my kid is getting to the right age for it, I asked Spark to fill out his library card application.
After checking that it had the right information about my address and other details, Spark opened up my library's website and went to work. It filled in my contact information, mailing address and other saved details. When it reached the final submission page, it stopped and waited for my approval instead of clicking the button itself.
Its not an incredibly long form, but its easy to see how Spark could save quite a lot of time on the more complex medical or insurance papers. Its a
lot faster to review and make sure the AI got it right than to write it all out yourself. Using Spark highlighted how different it feels from regular Gemini. Spark shifts the workload because it can actually interact with the browser instead of simply describing what I should do next.
Gemini Spark is one of the more compelling AI features Google has introduced in quite some time. It wont replace every online task, but it can quietly eliminate a surprising amount of clicking, tab juggling and repetitive
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