Jarvis, Google's web-browsing AI, is now officially known as Project Mariner

Google has introduced Gemini 2.0, a new machine learning model that will enhance its existing products and services, as well as power new experiences. The company has also previewed Project Mariner, an AI agent that can navigate within a web browser. Mariner is currently available as an experimental Chrome extension to select trusted testers. The AI agent is designed to automate certain tasks, such as finding contact information, and can understand and reason across information on a browser screen. In a demo, Mariner assisted a user in finding the contact information of four outdoor companies, although it took close to 12 minutes to complete the task. The user had to provide very specific instructions to Mariner, indicating that the software still needs more work before it is ready for public use. Project Mariner is similar to a previously reported project called Project Jarvis, which was described as a computer-using agent designed to assist with tasks like booking flights. A person familiar with the matter has confirmed that Jarvis and Mariner are the same project, which was briefly available on the Chrome Web Store in November. The introduction of Mariner comes after Anthropic introduced a similar feature for its Claude AI, which can use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people. The existence of Mariner and similar projects highlights the ongoing development of AI agents that can assist with tasks and interact with various software programs.