Rolling out the browser extension to your team

The browser extension is highly recommended, and it is available for both Chrome and Edge. It shows people their pulses in the browser's toolbar when they are due, and each tool's decision on the tool's own website. People without it can answer every pulse in their AI Adoption Portal, but the extension is still the most useful thing you can do for response rates. Governance set-up has it as Get the extension installed, its own section after The AI State of Play and the leadership position, so it is worth rolling out while The AI State of Play runs, in your first two weeks.

This article covers three rollout paths, from smallest team to largest:

1. The email path: 5-20 people, about 30 minutes
2. The Google Workspace path: 20-500 people, about an hour of IT time
3. The device management path: 500+ people or regulated environments

Pick the one that fits your size. For all three, the goal is the same: each person has the extension installed, is signed in, and has allowed it on all sites. As a starting point, aim for most people installed and allowed on all sites in the first week. The third step is the one rollouts lose people on.

Before you start: two things to get right#Link to this section

1 · Everyone knows to allow it on all sites#Link to this section

Pulses run on a cadence. When one comes due, the extension can place it on whatever website the person has open, and when they open one of your AI tools' websites, it shows the organisation's decision on that tool. That's why the browser treats the access it needs as broad and makes it optional. Each person allows it themselves, in the extension's panel, by pressing Allow on all sites under Pulses and notices. No admin console, force-install or device policy can allow it on their behalf.

If people miss this step, the extension is installed but pulses and tool decisions don't appear on their pages. People are signed in, pulses come due on schedule, but people only find them if they open the panel, where they wait under Waiting on you, or their AI Adoption Portal. Few people open a toolbar panel they haven't been given a reason to open, and no tool's decision appears on its website.

So make it a named step in whatever you send, not a footnote. There's wording for it in the email template below.

Tool websites have nothing to do with when pulses arrive. A tool's websites decide where the extension shows its decision: when someone opens one, they see what the organisation has decided about the tool. No pulse depends on anyone visiting them.

2 · Your people are added and have the right roles#Link to this section

Someone you haven't added can install it, but signing in won't connect them to your organisation. Add people first, then roll out. See Adding your people and sending invitations.

Tool assignments, which decide who is asked about each tool, can come later: they're part of Measurement set-up, under Measurement → How it works, and nothing in the rollout waits for them.

Path 1 · The email path (5-20 people)#Link to this section

Good for: small teams, founder-led organisations, pilots.

Under Settings → Organisation → Extension rollout, keep Self-install, then send one email with a single purpose: get people to install the extension, sign in and allow it on all sites. Here's a template you can paste:

Subject: Add The GAiGE to your browser

Hi team,

We're using a tool called The GAiGE to help get our AI governance organised and help with AI adoption.

The extension is how we ask you about AI at work. When you open an AI tool's website, it shows where we stand on that tool.

What to do (about two minutes):

1. Install the extension → Chrome Web Store or Microsoft Edge Add-ons
2. Pin it to your toolbar (click the puzzle icon, then the pin next to The GAiGE)
3. Click The GAiGE icon and sign in with your work email
4. Under Pulses and notices, press Allow on all sites, and choose Allow when your browser asks. That's what lets a pulse, or a tool's decision, appear on the website you're on

When you add it, your browser says it can "Read your browsing history". That's because it reads the address of each page you open, to tell when it's an AI tool's website. It checks the address on your device, and the address never leaves it, so neither The GAiGE nor we see the sites you visit. It reads nothing on the pages themselves. It also asks for The GAiGE's own two sites, which is how it signs you in and keeps up to date with us.

At step 4 your browser asks again, this time saying it can "Read and change all your data on all websites". That's what lets its questions and notices appear on whatever website you have open: it adds them to the page and still reads nothing on it.

Say what you actually think. Each pulse tells you before its first question whether your answers are anonymous or identifiable. When a pulse is anonymous, your name isn't shown with your answers to anyone, admins included. In a small group, or from something you write in a comment, someone may still be able to work out an answer is yours.

You can also answer every pulse in your AI Adoption Portal.

To find out more, see About the extension and What data is collected about you.

Any trouble, reply to this email or see [help article link].

Thanks. Your answers help us decide which tools are worth your time and our budget.

What makes this email work:

• Explains why before how
• Links straight to the install
• Makes Allow on all sites a numbered step, with what it's for stated plainly
• Explains both warnings the browser shows, on install and at Allow on all sites, before anyone is put off by them
• Links to the install article and to what data is collected, for anyone who wants the detail
• Says nothing about your AI policies: those reach people with Brief the team, once you've published them
• Gives people something to reply to if they hit trouble

Follow up a week later with the people who haven't installed it. The Extension column on People → All people shows who has, and the Dashboard's Extensions installed figure counts them.

Path 2 · The Google Workspace path (20-500 people)#Link to this section

Good for: mid-sized organisations with Google Workspace or Google-managed Chrome.

Install the extension for everyone through the Google Workspace Admin Console, so it appears in everyone's Chrome with nothing for them to install. Under Settings → Organisation → Extension rollout, choose Installed by IT, so the invitations people without an account get say where to find it. People who already have an account aren't sent the extension invitation when IT installs it, so send them your own short note.

Steps#Link to this section

1. Sign in to admin.google.com as a Workspace super admin
2. Devices → Chrome → Apps & extensions → Users & browsers
3. Pick the organisational unit(s) you want to target (usually everyone)
4. Click the + button → Add Chrome app or extension by ID
5. Paste the extension ID (it's in the Chrome Web Store address)
6. Set Installation policy to Force install
7. Save

Within minutes to hours, every Chrome browser managed by your Workspace account has the extension installed, and people can't remove it.

After force-install:

• People still need to click the extension, sign in once, and allow it on all sites. The extension can neither sign itself in nor allow itself on all sites. Send the team an email covering both (a shorter version of the template above). Force-install only saves the install step.
• People who sign in with Google (if your organisation uses it) skip most of the effort here.

What policy can and can't do#Link to this section

Chrome enterprise policy can put the extension on every machine. It can't sign anyone in, and it can't allow the optional access that lets a pulse or a tool's decision appear on the website. Budget a short message for both, whichever path you take.

Path 3 · The device management path (500+ people or regulated environments)#Link to this section

Good for: large organisations, healthcare, finance, government, anywhere with a managed-device policy.

The extension supports Chrome enterprise policies through any device management that handles Chrome:

• Microsoft Intune
• Jamf (for managed Macs)
• Kandji
• VMware Workspace ONE
• SCCM / Configuration Manager

What you push is a standard Chrome ExtensionInstallForcelist policy. Your Chrome enterprise team will know how to add it; give them the extension ID. As with Path 2, set Settings → Organisation → Extension rollout to Installed by IT.

The ExtensionInstallForcelist policy#Link to this section

{
  "ExtensionInstallForcelist": ["<EXTENSION_ID>;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx"]
}

Replace <EXTENSION_ID> with the 32-character ID from the Chrome Web Store address.

Security-sensitive environments#Link to this section

For environments that need to check what data the extension handles before deploying it:

• The extension does not read or send the content of pages people visit, and it does not send us any web address. What leaves the browser is the person's answers (with which pulse and tool they relate to, whether it was anonymous or identifiable, the extension's version, and whether the pulse was scheduled or started by the person), and any question or request the person chooses to send. Every request also includes the person's sign-in token, the extension's version and whether they have allowed it on all sites, and the check for due pulses includes the browser's time zone. Once someone signs in, your organisation can see that they have the extension. The extension checks each page's address on the person's device, against your organisation's list of AI tools; the address never leaves the device.
• Data is sent over HTTPS to api.thegaige.com, hosted on AWS (ap-southeast-2, Sydney).
• See What data we collect: for Owners and Admins for the detail.

Checking the rollout#Link to this section

Two places to look during the first two weeks:

• People → All people: the Extension column shows who has installed it
• The Dashboard: the Extensions installed figure, under How it's going, counts them, for example "41 of 60"

As a starting point, aim for most people installed and allowed on all sites in the first week. Below about 30% answering, work through the causes in Why is response rate low?. If you're behind:

• Ask a few people to open the panel. If Allow on all sites still shows under Pulses and notices, the step was missed, and that is the single most likely reason a well-installed rollout gets few answers
• Send a reminder email (the most common fix), naming the Allow on all sites step
• Check that your Chrome Web Store link works from a clean profile
• Check All people for anyone whose role is wrong

When a new person joins the organisation#Link to this section

Add them on People → All people, then either:

• If you're on Path 2 or 3: the extension installs itself when their managed Chrome profile first loads. They need to sign in and allow it on all sites.
• If you're on Path 1: send them the email template above.

Assign them to tools as you would anyone else.

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If you'd like someone to plan and run the rollout alongside you, see Getting outside help.