Google turns Chrome into an agentic AI workplace tool with Auto Browse, Skills, and enterprise DLP at $6/month

This article was published on April 22, 2026 Summary: Google announced at Cloud Next 2026 that Chrome is becoming an agentic workplace platform with Auto Browse (autonomous multi-step task completion), Chrome Skills (saveable AI workflows), a persistent Gemini side panel integrated with Workspace, and on-device AI APIs via Gemini Nano. Chrome Enterprise Premium at $6/user/month adds real-time DLP, data masking, and AI governance controls, with a reported 50% reduction in unauthorised AI data transfers. The move positions Chrome against enterprise browser startups Island ($4.85B valuation) and Palo Alto’s Prisma Access Browser. Google used Cloud Next 2026 on Tuesday to reposition Chrome from a browser into what it is calling an intelligent workplace platform, adding agentic capabilities that let the browser perform multi-step tasks autonomously, a persistent Gemini side panel that integrates with Gmail, Calendar, and Drive, saveable AI workflows called Chrome Skills, and enterprise security controls designed to govern how employees interact with AI tools. Parisa Tabriz, vice president and general manager of Google Chrome, described the shift as moving Chrome “from a tool you use to