AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team

AI workflow automation startup Relay has ceased operations, with its founding team moving to Google's Chrome division. The company's CEO hinted at upcoming AI-driven productivity features coming to Chrome, suggesting Google acquired the talent to bolster browser-based automation capabilities.

Relay, a startup focused on automating workplace workflows using artificial intelligence, has shut its doors and folded its team into Google's Chrome browser division. The move appears to be an acqui-hire — a common Silicon Valley practice where a larger company absorbs a smaller one primarily for its engineering and leadership talent rather than its product. Relay's CEO and founder Jacob Bank signaled that his new role at Google will involve ambitious AI-powered features designed to help users accomplish tasks directly within Chrome. The timing is notable, as major browser makers are racing to embed AI assistance into everyday browsing, and Google's Chrome remains the world's dominant browser. Bank's background building automated, AI-driven productivity tools could position the Chrome team well to deliver more sophisticated in-browser task automation.

AI workflow automation startup Relay has shut down and handed its team over to Google, where they will work within the Chrome browser division. The company's founder and CEO, Jacob Bank, offered a telling preview of what comes next, describing ambitious plans to weave AI capabilities into Chrome so users can accomplish tasks more fluidly while browsing. While financial terms were not disclosed, the arrangement resembles a classic acqui-hire — a deal structure where the acquired company's product may be wound down but its people, expertise, and intellectual groundwork are absorbed into the larger organization. Relay had been building tools designed to automate complex, multi-step business processes using AI, essentially acting as a digital co-worker that could coordinate actions across applications. That expertise maps directly onto what Google appears to be pursuing for Chrome. Why it matters: The browser is increasingly becoming the primary interface through which both individuals and enterprises interact with digital tools, and Google's move to recruit an AI automation team signals a clear intention to make Chrome itself more agentic — capable of doing things on a user's behalf rather than simply rendering pages. This fits a broader industry trend: Microsoft has been embedding Copilot into Edge, Arc has been experimenting with AI browsing modes, and Apple brought expanded Siri intelligence closer to Safari's ecosystem. Google acquiring Relay's talent suggests Chrome's next chapter may include features that can understand user intent, automate repetitive browser-based tasks, and interact with web services on command. For enterprises especially, a browser that can execute multi-step workflows without requiring separate automation software could be transformative. The competitive stakes are high — whoever cracks seamless, trustworthy in-browser AI automation could redefine how work gets done on the web, locking users and businesses more deeply into their ecosystem. Relay's closure is a loss for the startup world but potentially a meaningful accelerant for Chrome's AI roadmap.