Google shuts down Project Mariner experimental AI agent and folds its technology into Gemini Agent and AI Mode

Google has shut down Project Mariner, an experimental feature first revealed in December 2024 that was designed to perform tasks across the web on a user's behalf. The Project Mariner landing page now states that the project was shut down on May 4, 2026 and “its technology voyaged to other Google products,” including Gemini Agent (which can archive emails or book hotels) and AI Mode (Google's AI-powered search feature). Earlier this year, Google also launched an “auto-browse” feature in Chrome that can perform multi-step tasks like researching flight costs, which appears to be a response to agentic web browsing tools offered by OpenAI, Perplexity, and OpenClaw. The shutdown comes ahead of Google I/O, which starts on May 19.