For many years, web browsers have followed a familiar pattern. Users open tabs, read pages, save links, and switch back and forth while trying to make sense of large amounts of information. Even with faster internet and smarter search engines, the basic habit of juggling many tabs has remained the same. Google’s new experimental project, called Disco, tries to change how this habit works. Instead of treating browser tabs as separate and static pages, Disco turns them into the building blocks of small, interactive web apps. The idea is simple but ambitious: browsing, research, and planning should not stop at reading pages. They should lead naturally into action, organisation, and clearer understanding.
Disco is powered by Google’s Gemini models and is being tested through Google Labs. It is not positioned as a replacement for Chrome, nor is it being marketed as a finished product. Google describes it as an experiment, built to explore how people might use the web if AI were placed at the centre of the browsing experience. At the heart of Disco is a feature called GenTabs. With GenTabs, a user can take a browser tab, or a group of tabs, and ask the system to turn that information into a working web app designed around a specific task.
The basic process behind Disco is easy to understand. A user opens a tab or starts a new project inside the Disco browser and enters a prompt. This prompt could be about travel planning, studying a topic, managing food choices, or organising a personal project. Disco then opens related webpages, studies their content, and offers to create a GenTab. This GenTab is not just a summary or a long answer. It becomes an interactive page that pulls together maps, text, visuals, tables, and tools based on what the user is trying to do. The user can continue opening more tabs, and the GenTab updates itself using that new material.
Google has shared several examples to explain how this works in practice. One example focuses on a scientific topic such as entropy. Instead of only showing text explanations, Disco creates a simple visual model that helps explain the idea in a more concrete way. Another example shows how a user planning a winter trip can end up with a planner that includes location details, an interactive map, calendar links, and a basic itinerary builder. All of this is placed inside a single interface that responds to both the user’s prompts and the sources they choose to open.
The tool has also been shown creating meal planners and garden planners. In these cases, Disco gathers information from different pages and presents it in a form that allows users to make choices, track progress, and adjust plans. This shows that Disco is not limited to research or learning. It is designed to support practical tasks that usually require many tabs and separate tools. Instead of moving between a calendar, a map, and a notes app, the user works inside one generated space.
What sets Disco apart from many other AI-based browsing tools is its clear focus on regular websites. While some AI browsers try to answer questions directly and reduce the need to visit pages, Disco encourages users to open links and read sources. According to Google’s Chrome team, early testing showed that users tended to stay inside chat boxes and avoid checking original pages. Disco was shaped to change that habit. By making open tabs the foundation of each GenTab, the system depends on real web content. The more pages a user opens, the more detailed and accurate the generated app becomes.
Disco itself looks different from a standard browser. Rather than simple tabs along the top, it uses the idea of a “project.” A project holds a chat conversation, a set of open tabs, and one or more GenTabs created from those sources. Inside a project, the user can move between reading, asking questions, and interacting with the generated app. It feels less like casual browsing and more like working inside a focused workspace built for a single goal.
The question of what a GenTab really is remains open. Is it something temporary that disappears once the project is closed, or is it something that can be saved, shared, and reused? Google admits it does not yet have a final answer. Early testers have asked for ways to share their GenTabs or keep them for long-term use. The team has suggested that future versions may support both temporary and saved versions, as well as ways to move data into other Google services such as Docs or Sheets.
Disco started as a small internal project during a Google hackathon. Over time, the idea gained attention within the company, especially among the Chrome team. Parisa Tabriz, who leads Chrome development, has said that Disco should not be seen as a general-purpose browser. Its role is to test what happens when people move from managing tabs to creating personal tools for specific needs. This experimental nature explains why Disco is launching quietly through Google Labs rather than as a major public release.
The timing of Disco is also important. Many companies are racing to define what an AI-powered browser should look like. Tools such as Perplexity’s Comet and Microsoft Edge with Copilot add chat features to existing browser designs. OpenAI’s Atlas browser follows a similar path, offering AI help inside a familiar structure. Disco takes a different route by questioning the structure itself. Instead of adding a chatbot to browsing, it changes what a tab can become.
Google’s control over Chromium, the open-source base used by many browsers, gives it a unique position in this competition. At the same time, Google Labs has a history of launching experiments that never reach a wide audience. Disco could remain a testbed for ideas that later appear in Chrome, Search, or Workspace products. It could also fade away if users do not find it useful. Google has been open about this uncertainty.
At present, Disco is available only through a waitlist and is limited to macOS users. Those who are accepted may also be invited to test future features as the platform grows. Google has said that GenTabs is only the first feature planned for Disco, suggesting that more ideas may follow if the experiment continues.
