Research eats time in the reading, not the finding. You track down the paper, the report, or the documentation. Then comes the slow part: parsing dense paragraphs, unfamiliar notation, and results that assume you already know the field. AI for research should sit right next to what you are reading and explain it in plain terms, and that is what Lensia does. It is an AI assistant inside Chrome whose main surface is a sidebar chat that opens beside the page and stays there: paste a passage, ask what it means, ask a follow-up, and keep the thread going as you work through a source. Install Lensia free and read your next paper with something that actually helps you understand it.
The sidebar chat is where research happens
Reading a source is a conversation with yourself, and the sidebar turns it into one you can actually have. Open it from the Lensia icon in your Chrome toolbar and a chat docks next to the page, so the paper and your questions stay side by side.
What makes it fit research is that it holds the whole thread:
- Conversation history stays between sessions, so a paper you started digging into on Monday is still open where you left it.
- Bookmarks keep the explanations you will want to cite or revisit.
- A model picker lets you move from a fast model for a quick definition to a stronger one when a method section needs careful reading.
Paste the paragraph that lost you and ask for it in plain language. Then ask "what is the assumption behind this result?" and keep pulling the thread until the argument is clear. For how the whole thing works under the hood, read how Lensia works.
Pull live sources into the chat
Research rarely lives in one document. On a paid plan, the sidebar can search the web and fetch a specific URL, so the AI can pull a definition, a related finding, or the actual page you link it into the same conversation. Pro adds agent mode, which lets it read the tabs you already have open and work through a few steps before it answers, useful when you are cross-referencing several sources at once.
Grab a figure or paragraph without leaving the page
When you just want one thing explained fast, the floating panel is quicker than a chat. Press Ctrl+Shift+X, drag a box around a figure, a dense paragraph, or an equation, and a clear explanation appears on top of the page. Flip on Ask Mode to type your own question and attach up to three images, which is handy for comparing two charts or a figure and its caption. For a broader look at what a browser assistant can do, read the AI assistant for your browser.
What it is good at
- Academic papers and PDFs: explain a method, unpack the notation, or summarize what a results section actually found.
- Technical documentation: turn a reference page into a plain answer to the question you actually have.
- Market and competitor research: read a long report and ask for the parts that matter to your decision. If you mostly need the gist, see summarize articles and web pages with AI.
- Writing from sources: work out an argument in the chat, then draft with an AI writing assistant in your browser.
Because it reads what is on your screen, it works on almost any site or document you open in Chrome, with nothing to connect or upload.
What each plan gives you
You sign in with Google to activate, and you are in.
- Free covers the sidebar chat with history and bookmarks, the floating panel with Ask Mode, the Quick and Standard models, and the Lensia Max router that picks a model for each question.
- Basic adds a much larger usage allowance, web search and fetch URL in the sidebar, reasoning mode, custom instructions, and the Advanced models for careful work.
- Pro has the highest allowance and adds agent mode.
A privacy note worth reading if research means handling sensitive material: privacy and AI tools.
Start reading smarter
Open your next paper, put the sidebar next to it, and ask about the first thing that slows you down. Install Lensia from the Chrome Web Store, sign in with Google, and turn dense sources into something you can actually work with.
Install Lensia today and spend your research time understanding, not decoding.