Google’s new browser promises to put an end to the tyranny of the tab

Planning a family vacation usually involves digital sprawl: a dozen browser tabs for hotels, flight comparisons, and restaurant reviews on various websites.

It’s the kind of chaos that has defined web work since tabbed browsing was popularized by Mozilla Firefox in 2002.

Today, the division of Alphabet Inc. Disco unveiled, an experimental web browser that aims to put an end to the chaotic tyranny of tabs.

Disco uses the company’s new Gemini 3 artificial intelligence model to turn a cluster of open tabs into a single, interactive application.

The launch marks one of Google’s most aggressive efforts yet to reimagine the web interface that generates the bulk of its ad revenue, signaling a shift from passive search to active, AI-driven curation.

Central to the new browser is a feature called GenTabs. Instead of forcing users to switch between different sites, GenTabs analyzes the active research session (flight logs, weather forecasts and travel blogs) and compiles them into a custom dashboard.

“As our online tasks have become more complex, we’ve all felt the frustration of juggling dozens of open tabs,” Google said in a statement about the launch. The company doesn’t describe Disco as a “discovery vehicle” designed to build software on the fly.

The end of tab fatigue?

The premise of Disco is that the browser should be an active agent rather than a passive window.

In a demonstration, Google showed a user researching a trip to Burlington, Vermont. Instead of letting the user manage the raw information, Disco’s AI did away with the open tabs to generate a unified, interactive map with a built-in itinerary and budget checklist. (People old enough to remember when AAA created maps and associated information packages on paper called TripTik will be amused. AAA, of course, now offers this as an app.)

Crucially, Disco’s generated dashboards are dynamic. When a user clicks ‘book stays nearby’ within the generated app, the system pulls real-time data from the underlying websites, combining the utility of a custom app with the live connectivity of the internet.

The technology is powered by Gemini 3, Google’s latest major language model released earlier this month.

According to the company, Gemini 3 uses a “Deep Think” reasoning mode that allows it to perform complex, multi-step tasks, such as putting together a meal plan from five different recipe blogs, with greater accuracy than previous iterations.

A sandbox, not a switch

For now, Google considers Disco an experimental sandbox.

The browser is launching as a limited experiment under the Google Labs division and will initially only be available to macOS users via a waitlist, which you can access here.

Still, the cautious rollout reflects the high stakes involved.

Google Chrome controls nearly two-thirds of the global browser market and serves as the main funnel for the search ads that make up the vast majority of Alphabet’s revenue.

Disrupting that interface carries significant risks. By parking Disco in its ‘Labs’ division, Google can test radical changes to the interface (such as removing the traditional URL bar in favor of a conversation sidebar) without immediately disrupting the experience for billions of Chrome users.

Likewise, when the new browser takes off, traffic to the content sources that AI cannibalizes will further decline, adding another nail in the coffin of ad-supported websites. Still, the company has high expectations of the new approach.

“Disco’s most compelling ideas could one day find their way into larger Google products,” the company said, hinting that GenTabs could eventually make its way to the main Chrome browser.

The AI ​​browser wars

The release comes as Google faces increasing pressure from competitors seeking to rethink the browser. OpenAI has reportedly been exploring web browsing agents, and startups like Arc have gained traction using AI to summarize and organize web pages.

However, Google’s approach with Disco differs in its ‘zero-code’ promise. The browser builds actual tools instead of just summarizing information.

In addition to travel, Google demonstrated GenTabs, which created interactive 3D models of the solar system for students, while serving meal planners via automatically scraped ingredient lists, bundled into a shopping list.