Chrome for Android can already read aloud web pages. On paper, it sounds like a handy accessibility feature, but in practice, the robotic voice makes it hard to stay engaged. In June, Google was spotted testing a useful AI-powered upgrade for Chrome — one that turns the experience into something closer to a podcast, rather than just machine voice reading out the page aloud. It seems the feature is finally ready to go public, with the option appearing on Chrome for Android’s stable channel.
Android Authority‘s Mishaal Rahman spotted the new AI-powered Read Aloud feature in the latest stable release of Chrome for Android (v140.0.7339.124). The feature uses AI to transform a web page’s content into a podcast-style experience, complete with two AI voices delivering it like a natural conversation.
This makes listening to a web page far more engaging than the current implementation, where a flat machine voice simply reads the text aloud.
To check if you have the AI-powered Audio Overview feature in Chrome for Android, open a web page, tap the 3-dot icon on the top-right, and select the Listen to this page option. You can turn off the AI-powered audio by tapping the icon next to the playback speed option.
I have the latest Chrome for Android build on my phone, but the new AI-powered Audio Overviews feature hasn’t shown up for me yet. But it should go live soon, especially since the feature was spotted working in Chrome for Android’s Canary build just a few weeks ago.
The feature is similar to NotebookLM’s AI Overview, which uses AI to turn the source content into a podcast-style audio.
Audio Overviews expand to more Google products
If you rely heavily on Chrome for Android’s Read Aloud feature, the new AI-powered Audio Overviews should feel far more useful. Admittedly, Chrome can still take more cues from NotebookLM and add support for playing back content in more languages, voices, and tones. That would make the feature even more intuitive.
Google also rolled out Audio Overviews as an experimental Search feature in June this year. So, it’s clear that the company wants to integrate Audio Overviews into as many of its services as possible.
