Ahead of Ask Gemini's release on Android, Google is testing a backup "Ask AI Mode" likely for unsupported regions

Google is testing a new “Ask AI Mode” button in Chrome for Android. Presumably, it’ll replace the “Ask Gemini” button in regions where the full Gemini experience is presently unsupported.

This was spotted by @Leopeva64 on X, and he shared information about the change.

The relevant flags to enable the feature are unavailable even in Chrome Canary at the moment, so the tester likely enabled hidden flags, perhaps with a rooted device.

The buttons appear in Chrome’s bottom navigation bar and also feature different icons. The Gemini logo is directly used in regions where it’s supported, while a magnifying glass (with the overall icon representing AI) is used in unsupported regions. In regions where Gemini is fully supported, users will likely continue to see “Ask Gemini.” The “Ask AI Mode” probably doesn’t support the entire feature suite.

Gemini integration with Chrome is slated to launch at the end of June in the US, and the company plans to expand it to more countries in the coming weeks.

In countries such as India, where the feature is yet to launch, neither of these buttons appears at the moment.

For those unaware, Gemini in Chrome for Android was announced at the latest Google I/O, for devices running Android 12 and above, with at least 4GB of RAM, and the language set to English: US. Some features require additional subscriptions to Google’s Gemini Pro.

In further replies to the main thread, the poster clarified that the US also appears in the fallback list, presumably as a safety measure in case Gemini becomes temporarily unavailable. This was sourced via a Gerrit commit.

In European countries such as France, neither of these buttons will appear due to local internet regulations. One example is France, which is a “blocked” country for now.

In other Chrome news, rollout of v150 has begun on all platforms, and it’s a minor update that fixes bugs and slightly refines the animations. We covered that here.

Disclaimer: The Featured image was generated with AI.

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