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Open and use AI Chat in Shift Browser

  • Updated

You can use AI Chat in Shift Browser to get instant answers and summaries without leaving your workflow. This native assistant is built directly into your toolbar and sidebar, allowing you to brainstorm or get help while you browse. Follow this guide to learn how to open, manage, and customize your AI experience.

**AI has been released to a Beta group and may not yet be available to all Shift users. 
 

What is Shift AI Chat?

AI Chat is a specialized tool that lives inside your browser. It integrates your online workspace with native intelligence so you don't have to switch tabs to use external AI tools. You can use it to:

  • Get quick explanations or summaries of long articles.
  • Brainstorm ideas or rewrite drafts.
  • Get help with tasks while you stay focused on your current page.

How to open AI Chat in Shift Browser

You can open your assistant at any time using one of these three methods:

  1. Click the AI icon: Look for the AI icon in the toolbar, just to the left of the omnibox.
  2. Use a keyboard shortcut: Press Cmd + . on Mac or Ctrl + . on Windows. If you forget, you can hover over the AI icon to reveal the keyboard shortcut. 
  3. Use the Omnibox: Start typing a question in the search bar and select the AI option that appears, or click Tab to open AI Chat. Note: the Tab option will only appear if you also have the Intelligent Omnibox turned on.
Gif shows a user opening AI Chat by clicking on the AI icon beside the omnibox

 

Choose your chat layout

AI Chat adapts to what you're doing. It'll open in one of two views:

  • Full-screen chat: This view opens when you're on a New Tab page. It's best for deep brainstorming and focused planning.
  • Side-panel chat: This view opens when you're on a website. It appears as a sidebar so you can keep your page visible while you ask questions.

Send your first message

To start a conversation, just click into the message box at the bottom of the chat window. Type your question and press Enter. You'll see a status indicator, like "Thinking..." or "Searching web...", while the AI builds your response.

You can use the built-in controls to manage the conversation. These include Copy for grabbing text, Stop to end a response early, and Try again if you want to regenerate an answer.

Gif shows a user with a knowledge article in their main web page, typing a message to AI Chat asking a question related to the article. AI Chat responds with a summary of information pulled from the article.

Start a new chat or close AI Chat

From the menu in AI Chat, you can:

  • Start a New chat, this will remove any previous context so you can start fresh. 
  • Open AI Chat’s Settings, further customize how AI Chat works for you. 
  • Close AI Chat when you’re done.
Gif shows the location of 'Starting a new chat', 'Expanding to full screen', 'More options' which includes access to Settings, and 'Close Chat window' menu options in AI Chat

Manage your AI Chat settings

If you don't see the AI icon in your toolbar, the feature might be turned off. You can enable or disable it in seconds.

  1. Click the gear icon to open Quick Settings.
  2. Find the Shift AI section.
  3. Toggle AI Chat to the On position.

Turning this off will hide the icon and disable the sidebar assistant. 

Gif shows a user opening Quick Settings by clicking the gear icon and then scrolling down the panel to the Shift AI section and toggling on and off the AI Chat and Intelligent Omnibox options.

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