Guide
Chrome's Homework Help and Online Exams
6 minute read - Updated: November 2026
In late summer 2025, students opening a Canvas course in Chrome began seeing a Homework Help label on the browser's Lens button. It is not an extension a student installs; it is a feature built into Chrome that can read what is on the page, including a quiz question, and return an AI-generated answer in a side panel. Google later turned it off by default, but the underlying Lens and page-help features remain a click away. This guide explains what the feature does, why it unsettled instructors, and what a reasonable response looks like.
What the feature is
Chrome's Homework Help is Google Lens with an education label. When a signed-in user is on a learning platform page, the Lens control in the address bar offers help with the page. Selecting a region of the screen, including a question, sends it to Google for an AI-generated explanation or answer. Because it is part of the browser, nothing is installed and nothing shows in an extensions list. Reports from university technology offices place its appearance with Chrome 140 on Windows and macOS around the end of August 2025, with Google disabling the default label after complaints while leaving Lens and page-help features reachable.
Why it unsettled instructors
Three reasons. It appeared without notice, inside the browser students were already required to use. It is indistinguishable from the browser itself, so a blocklist of AI websites and extensions does not apply. And it demonstrated the broader point about where assistance now lives: not in a tab a lockdown browser can block, but in the browser's own features and in applications beside it.
What a lockdown browser does and does not do
A lockdown browser that replaces Chrome with its own locked window removes Chrome's Lens control for the duration of the exam, which addresses this feature directly. It does not address the same capability in a second device, in a desktop AI assistant, or in an overlay hidden from screen capture. Institutions that treated the Homework Help episode as a reason to lock the browser harder have addressed one entry point; those that treated it as a reason to look at the whole device have addressed the category.
Setting a rule that holds
State in the syllabus and on the exam start screen that AI assistance of any kind, including browser-built-in features, is prohibited during the assessment, and that the device and browser will be checked. A rule that names the category rather than a product list stays current as features change. Pair it with a practice quiz so students see what monitoring looks like before it matters.
Detection and prevention
Within a ScreenComply session, the ScreenComply Browser extension records the pages and panels opened from the exam tab and any navigation away from it, and the desktop application records focus leaving the exam window and any overlay or assistant running beside the browser. Prevent mode blocks restricted applications before the exam opens; Detect mode records the event for review. Used with a lockdown browser, the combination covers the browser feature, the desktop and the second device. [REVIEW for Michael: confirm that a Lens or Homework Help panel opened from the exam tab is recorded by the browser extension and how it appears in the report; adjust this paragraph if it is not.]
What to tell students
Tell them plainly that browser-built-in AI features count as AI assistance, that using them during a proctored quiz is recorded, and that the record is reviewed by a person. Most students will not try. The ones who do will have been told.
Frequently asked questions
Is Homework Help still on in Chrome?
Google disabled the Homework Help label by default after complaints, but Lens, "Ask Google about this page" and similar page-help features remain available in Chrome. Treat the capability as present.
Can a lockdown browser block it?
A lockdown browser that replaces Chrome with its own window removes the feature during the exam. It does not address the same capability on a phone or in a desktop assistant.
Can institutions turn it off centrally?
Only on managed devices under institutional Chrome policy. On a student's own laptop, the institution's control is the rule and the monitoring.
Does ScreenComply detect it?
Navigation and panels opened from the exam tab are recorded by the browser extension, and focus leaving the exam window is recorded by the desktop application, for a reviewer to see. [REVIEW: confirm with the paragraph above.]
Should we ban Chrome for exams?
No. State the rule, use a lockdown browser if your policy requires one, and add device-level checks for the assistance that lives outside the browser.
See a session, a detection, and a report
A short walkthrough of a live exam, a flagged moment, and the finding your integrity office would receive.