Google Unveils Project Mariner: The Evolution of Web-Browsing AI

Google introduces Project Mariner, an AI agent designed to navigate web browsers, evolving from the previously known Project Jarvis.

Google just dropped Gemini 2.0, their latest machine learning brainchild, and it’s here to jazz up both the old favorites and cook up some fresh digital delights. Enter Project Mariner—think of it as your new AI sidekick that’s learning to surf the web like a pro. Right now, it’s in the hands of a lucky few testers as a Chrome extension, quietly mastering the art of ticking off those pesky routine tasks.

Picture this: Mariner, in a live demo, played detective to dig up contact details for four outdoor gear companies. It’s not just reading text; it’s making sense of everything on your screen—code, images, even those forms you dread filling out. But let’s keep it real—the demo wasn’t all smooth sailing. Mariner’s still figuring out how to take a hint without a detailed map, and yeah, it’s not winning any speed races yet.

Fun fact: Mariner used to go by Jarvis, back when it was just helping you book flights without breaking a sweat. The name change? That’s Google’s way of saying, ‘We’re leveling up.’ And they’re not alone—Anthropic’s Claude AI is also teaching its digital brain to play nice with all sorts of apps and tools. Looks like the future’s all about AI that doesn’t just think but does.