2 weeks Ago By Daniel Sims
In brief: Google recently unveiled Gemini 2.0, the next generation of its GenAI toolchain. The company is gradually introducing multiple GenAI agents that leverage the new model for various tasks.
One of these, Mariner, can automatically control web browsers to retrieve information, make purchases, and perform other actions. Google has begun early testing on a new AI agent that can automate web browsing tasks. While the company admits that the software isn't perfect and is taking safety precautions, deploying it might raise questions about the future of the web.
Project Mariner, an extension for an experimental build of Chrome, can execute multi-step commands to browse websites, use Google search, retrieve specified information, go shopping, and more. The company claims the agent can assist with tasks that are usually tedious for humans. In one example, a tester shows Mariner a spreadsheet listing the names of multiple companies and asks the AI to find each of their contact email addresses.
Mariner then Googles each company's official website, browses through them, copies their contact emails, and pastes them into the chat window. Another demonstration tasks the agent with identifying the most famous impressionist painter, retrieving a selection of their works, and adding similar paint to a user's Etsy cart. In response, it presents a few Vincent Van Gogh paintings and stops just short of purchasing a palette on the art website.
To preserve transparency, Mariner displays its entire logic chain in the chat window on the right side of the browser window. Users can pause the agent at any point and have the final say before it completes purchases. Furthermore, the AI only controls the browser window's active tab.
Google admits that Mariner isn't extremely fast or perfectly accurate, so it's unclear when it might see a public release. The Van Gogh search took around five minutes, and the company had to speed up the video demonstrating the contact email retrieval. Mariner is likely a test build for Project Jarvis, an AI agent that The Information leaked in October.
The report indicated that Jarvis could enter text, take screenshots, interpret information, and control the mouse cursor. Interestingly, Mariner resembles an idea that Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman recently proposed . He believes that AI assistants might make manual web browsing obsolete within a few years and that websites could be redesigned so AI agents representing businesses can talk to AI agents representing customers.
Other new Gemini 2.0 tools can describe real-world objects in numerous languages, assist developers, and advise users while playing video games..
