Google has shut down Project Mariner, the autonomous web browsing agent it debuted at I/O last year. The tool, which could navigate Chrome, fill out forms, search listings, and book travel by taking screenshots and visually recognizing page elements, is no longer available. Its landing page now shows a notice with the shutdown date listed as May 4, 2026.
A browser agent that saw what you saw
Project Mariner was Google DeepMind’s attempt to build an AI agent that interacted with websites the way a person would. Rather than reading page data directly, it processed screenshots in real time to identify buttons, text fields, and links, then clicked and typed on a user’s behalf. That approach lets it handle multi-step tasks across sites without requiring any special integration from the website.
NEW: Google quietly shut down Project Mariner yesterday, the web-browsing AI agent it highlighted onstage last year at Google IO.
I reported for WIRED, nearly 2 months ago, that Google had moved staffers off the Project Mariner team as it responded to OpenClaw-style agents. pic.twitter.com/WMBago74vr
The tradeoff was performance. Visual processing at that scale demands significant compute, and the method was prone to errors, such as selecting the wrong option on a page. The agent also raised privacy concerns, since it required continuous access to whatever was visible in a user’s browser at any given moment.
Signs of trouble first surfaced in March, when Wired reported Google had begun reassigning staffers away from the Project Mariner team, a signal the project was losing internal support months before the shutdown became public.
Mariner’s tech isn’t going away
Google says Mariner’s technology “voyaged to other Google products.” Its core features will reportedly be absorbed into the Gemini API and the new Gemini Agent rather than being discontinued outright.
The shutdown tracks with a wider shift in how the industry is building agentic AI. Tools that operate at the file and code level, rather than the visual browser level, have become the dominant model. They are faster, cheaper to run, and more capable of handling complex, multi-step tasks. Mariner’s screenshot-based approach, while novel at launch, was competing against an architecture that had effectively moved past it.
With the start of April, Netflix is welcoming entertaining movies that will be available to stream for the foreseeable future. One of the new movies I’m ready to watch is Thrash, a new shark movie where the Jaws-like creatures wreak havoc on a coastal town during a hurricane. It might only be spring, but I’ll watch this type of survival thriller any time of the year.
Speaking of thrillers, there are several prominent movies featured on the genre page. My top pick for thrillers this week is a gritty punk-rock film, now streaming on Netflix in the U.S. The other two thrillers we want to spotlight are a twisty crime tale from the 1990s and an allegorical dystopian mystery set in prison.
3
The Platform
Maybe don’t watch on a full stomach
Read what I wrote under the title again. The Platformis not for viewers with queasy stomachs. I have a strong stomach, and yet there are several moments when certain prisoners chow down where I wanted to look away. Between that and the violence, watching before dinner might be the move.
In a dystopian future, there is a prison called the Vertical Self-Management Center. Two prisoners are stationed on each floor, and there is a giant hole in the center. Every day, a platform filled with food lowers to the floor. Prisoners can have as much food as they want when the platform is on their level. However, they can no longer eat when the platform lowers to the next floor. The higher you are in the building, the more food you’ll have at your disposal. The lower floors are left to eat the scraps.
The Platform has much to say about social inequality and greed. I did not expect the Spanish thriller to be as gory as it was. This movie reflects how society treats the rich and the poor, so I should have expected a few uprisings. Overall, it’s a surprisingly effective thriller.
2
Wild Things
A steamy thriller from the 1990s
The following phrase is meant as a compliment: Wild Thingsis sexy trash. It is unapologetically lustful. It’s like playing Mad Libs with an erotic thriller. Plus, its attractive cast—Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Kevin Bacon—adds to the appeal.
In Miami, high school counselor Sam Lombardo (Dillon) is accused of raping popular student Kelly Van Ryan (Richards) and outcast Suzie Toller (Campbell). Sam then hires sleazy lawyer Kenneth Bowden (Murray) to defend him at trial. As the case progresses, Detective Duquette (Bacon) remains suspicious of the girls’ motives and questions whether Sam is innocent.
I’m being intentionally vague in my synopsis because of the significant twists this movie takes. Even if you guess one of the twists, more will follow. It approaches parody with how ridiculous it is, but I’m a sucker for this movie. It’s a soap opera with scandal, murder, and sexual longing. Wild Things is a scripted version of your favorite reality TV show.
1
Caught Stealing
Austin Butler races around New York City
Austin Butler has the “it factor.” Ever since Elvis, Hollywood has been pushing Butler as one of its future stars. The 34-year-old has the looks and skills of an A-list talent. He has good taste, as evidenced by the directors he works with, a list that includes Quentin Tarantino, Jeff Nichols, Denis Villeneuve, Ari Aster, and Darren Aronofsky.
Butler headlined Aronofsky’s 2025 crime thriller Caught Stealing. In the late 1990s, Hank (Butler) is a bartender living in New York City. Hank had aspirations of playing in the MLB, but a car accident derailed his opportunity. One day, Hank’s neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to look after his cat. That small task somehow leads to Hank going on the run from Russian mobsters.
Butler is the perfect actor for this star-making performance that would have taken him to new heights had it come out in the 1990s. Caught Stealing was considered a box office flop—$32 million on an estimated budget of $40 million. I don’t necessarily blame Butler for the poor box office. I think the August 29 release date played a role in its poor performance. Butler’s inclusion in a project might not lead to significant financial gains. However, I appreciate that he made a grimy mid-budget crime thriller that has seemingly disappeared from today’s movie landscape. If Butler’s down to make more crime capers with breakneck action and frenetic pacing, sign me up.
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