Most AI tools live in a separate tab, which means every question turns into a copy, a paste, and a lost train of thought. An AI assistant for your browser works the other way around: it sits next to whatever you are already doing. That is what Lensia is. It adds a sidebar chat to Chrome that stays open beside any page, so you can ask about what you are reading, get an answer, and follow up without leaving the tab. When you just want a fast answer about something on the screen, a floating panel handles that too. It is the same AI you would open in a separate tab, except it never makes you leave the page. Install Lensia free.
A chat that stays next to your work
The sidebar is the part you will use most. Open it and a chat docks beside the page, so your work and the conversation stay in view at once. It is not a one-question box either. It keeps the whole thread:
- History that sticks around between sessions, so yesterday's research chat is still there today.
- Bookmarks for answers you want to find again.
- A model picker, so you can start on a fast model and switch to a stronger one when a question gets harder, mid-conversation.
Because it holds a real back-and-forth, the sidebar is where you work something out rather than grab a single fact. Ask it to explain a dense contract clause, then ask "what happens if I miss that deadline," then keep going. For a full tour of how it fits together, read how Lensia works.
A quick answer about anything on the page
Some questions do not need a conversation. You are reading a page, one line stops you, and you want it explained without breaking your flow. Press Ctrl+Shift+X, drag a box around it, and the answer appears right on top of the page. Nothing leaves your screen and nothing needs retyping.
The panel does more than one-shot answers. Ask Mode turns it into a box where you type your own question and, if you want, attach up to three images from your screen, which is handy for comparing two things side by side. Ctrl+Shift+F repeats your last capture, and Ctrl+Shift+E hides the whole thing when you want a clean screen.
What people actually use it for
Lensia is not built for one job. A few of the common ones:
- Reading and research. Drop a link or a passage into the sidebar and ask for the gist, the counterargument, or the part that matters. More on that in AI for research.
- Summarizing. Long articles, reports, threads. Get the short version, then dig into whatever stands out. See summarizing articles and web pages with AI.
- Writing. Draft an email, rewrite an awkward paragraph, tighten a message before you send it. That workflow lives in the AI writing assistant guide.
- Understanding things. A confusing spec, a block of code, a form you have never filled out. Ask, in plain words.
- Quick lookups. The small questions you would normally open a new tab for.
Set up in about a minute
Getting started is short:
- Install Lensia from the Chrome Web Store.
- Sign in with Google. That is the whole setup.
- Open the sidebar on whatever page you are on and ask your first question.
You can also activate a paid plan later from your account whenever you want more.
Free, and paid when you need more
Lensia is free to start, with the sidebar chat, the floating panel, Ask Mode, and a solid set of models. Leave the model on Lensia Max and it picks a fitting one for each question on its own.
Paid plans add more room and more power. Basic brings about ten times the usage, web search, reading a specific URL, reasoning, custom instructions, and stronger models. Pro has the highest usage and adds agent mode, where the assistant chains a few steps on its own, reading a tab or taking a fresh look before it answers. For a side-by-side of where each plan fits, read the best AI tool guide, and if you care where your data goes, privacy and AI tools covers it. It also runs light in Chrome, so it does not slow the rest of your tabs; the best AI Chrome extension guide has the full comparison.
Try it on your next tab
The easiest way to see the point is to use it on something real. Install Lensia, sign in with Google, and open the sidebar on the page in front of you. Ask it the thing you were about to open a new tab for. Once the AI lives where you already work, going back to a separate tab feels like a step backward.
Install Lensia today and put an AI assistant in your browser.