A new Chrome Canary flag, “Fulfill Searchbox Queries in AI Mode,” routes searches typed into the address bar directly to AI Mode. It works as advertised in testing, but the Chromium commit frames it as exploration only, with no plans to roll it out—raising the
For anyone who relies on Chrome’s address bar as muscle memory, the change feels small—until you try it. In Chrome Canary, a new flag can reroute what you type there away from the standard Google Search and straight into AI Mode.
The feature is hidden behind a Chrome flag called “Fulfill Searchbox Queries in AI Mode.” Once enabled. searches made from the address bar go directly to AI Mode. Normally. that same address bar takes users to a regular Google Search. so this is a real shift in how the browser’s search entry point behaves.
The flag was first spotted by WindowsReport, and it doesn’t just look promising on paper. Testing in Chrome Canary shows it working as described. When “Android Authority” was searched after enabling the flag, the result landed in AI Mode for that keyword. And even though enabling the flag makes an “AI Mode” button feel redundant in the address bar. that button is still present.
The Chromium commit description that introduced the flag paints it as early work. It says the feature is for exploration and makes clear there are no plans to push it live. Google previously used a similar framing while testing AI Overviews and AI Mode before those features were eventually rolled out to users.
That earlier pattern matters because the new behavior is already detailed enough to be believable in daily use. The commit description says the feature will respect a user’s intent to open the search in a new tab when modifier keys like Ctrl and Command are used.
So for now, this is locked behind an experimental toggle in Canary. Chrome users who want the conventional path still have it. But the existence of a flag that routes ordinary address-bar searches into AI Mode—combined with Google’s repeated willingness to test and then expand these AI Search features—makes the direction harder to ignore.
AI Mode already isn’t staying in the margins. The company has also been experimenting with a floating AI Mode search bar on Windows. And while this Canary flag doesn’t guarantee Google will make AI Mode the default way to search in Chrome. it does show how easily the company could move from “optional feature” to “default behavior” for the place most people use every day: the Omnibar.
For now, the message is simple: Google is testing a shortcut. What happens next depends on whether this exploration gets promoted from a flag to the default routine.
Chrome Canary AI Mode Omnibar address bar search Fulfill Searchbox Queries in AI Mode Google AI search Chromium flag AI Overviews AI Search features
So they’re basically hijacking the address bar now? Great…
I saw the headline and thought this was gonna be forced on everyone, like immediately. If it’s just a flag then whatever, but why is everything becoming AI Mode?? My muscle memory is already cooked.
This says it “respects intent” like ctrl/new tab, but honestly I don’t trust Chrome to do what it says lol. Next thing you know every search is summarized by an AI and I can’t find the actual answer. Also can we talk about how Canary is just beta-land anyway.
Wait, so if you type in the address bar it goes to AI Mode? That’s kinda like when they changed the AI Overviews thing and everyone pretended it was normal. I’m not even on Canary and I’m already mad because it feels like they’ll just turn it on later. “Exploration only” is how they always start it, right? I just want the regular Google search back, that’s it.