As the race to introduce artificial intelligence features rages on, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) unveiled a new prototype on Wednesday that could reshape the AI marketplace.

Google’s Mariner: “Project Mariner” is an AI prototype that operates within users’ browsers using Google’s Gemini 2.0 technology.

The experimental Chrome extension, not yet available to the public, “combines strong multimodal understanding and reasoning capabilities” to automate users’ tasks. Google says that Mariner can “follow complex instructions and reason across websites.”

A promotional video showed the tool utilizing a Google Sheet of company names to scour the Internet for the companies’ contact information. The tool shows the user its reasoning when searching the web, but it cannot operate in the background of a user’s browser.

Google says it is working with developers to speed up the tool to make the user experience smoother. It also emphasized that Mariner could be prone to making mistakes.

Users interested in accessing the tool can add their names to a “trusted tester” waitlist.

Why it Matters: Though Big Tech companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars into AI, it remains unclear how useful the technology will end up being.

Some experts say that AI will not be able to find a foothold until it occupies a clear, “killer use case,” meaning it’s necessary that it proves the value of the technology as a whole. Past examples of killer applications include Microsoft‘s Excel and Apple‘s iTunes.

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