Dia’s AI browser starts adding Arc’s ‘greatest hits’ to its feature set

The AI internet browser Dia is drawing inspiration from its predecessor, Arc, an earlier experiment in modernizing the web-browsing expertise that hailed from the startup referred to as The Browser Firm. On Sunday, The Browser Firm’s founder, Josh Miller, confirmed that the brand new AI browser will convey “Arc’s biggest hits” to Dia, together with issues just like the sidebar mode, and mix that with AI-native options like reminiscence and brokers.

This rationalization means that Dia, which has since been acquired by Atlassian for $610 million, may have a bonus within the AI browser race, because it builds on the corporate’s earlier learnings from creating Arc.

The latter was initially launched in mid-2023 as a reinvention of the browser designed round the best way folks use the web at the moment. That included providing separate workspaces for work and private looking, assist for pinned tabs, a Command Bar that labored like Apple’s Highlight search, and a sidebar that included the search bar, tab checklist, person bookmarks, audio controls, and extra.

Nevertheless, Arc could have tried to push the envelope a bit too far: Miller later admitted that Arc was finally too complicated for most individuals to undertake.

“Arc was just too totally different, with too many new issues to be taught, for too little reward … On prime of that, Arc lacked cohesion in each its core options and core values. It was experimental — that was a part of its attraction — but in addition its complexity,” Miller wrote in a weblog put up earlier this yr, detailing the corporate’s choice to wind down Arc and open supply it, and refocusing the corporate’s efforts on constructing Dia.

However Arc could not essentially be a failure, even when it didn’t develop into a broadly adopted shopper product. As a substitute, the browser gave the corporate over a yr’s price of insights into what kind of fashionable browser options resonate with customers and which of them don’t.

That might assist the corporate get forward when constructing out the function set for Dia.

As Miller says in a put up on X, “Dia’s structure is a lot better for AI, velocity, and safety,” however it would introduce options that Arc followers liked, just like the sidebar mode — which was simply noticed within the firm’s newest “early birds” launch of Dia’s AI browser.

Already, Dia has added different options from Arc’s “biggest hits,” like turning Google Meet right into a picture-in-picture participant robotically once you change tabs and customized keyboard shortcuts. Miller hinted that the corporate is exploring transition Arc’s Areas — the distinct looking areas with their very own set of pinned tabs, favorites, themes, historical past, and cookies — to Dia. And he stated Dia’s group is at present testing pinned tabs.

Miller moreover solicited suggestions about different options so as to add, like swipeable profiles and Arc Search-inspired updates for the Dia cell app coming in 2026.

Plus, Miller notes, Dia may have much less bloat and can be AI native for issues like reminiscence and brokers.

Following the acquisition by Atlassian, The Browser Firm continues to function independently. Because of this, Miller stated the corporate will be capable to add extra “browser fundamentals,” referring to favourite Arc options, to the Dia browser. He additionally shared that Dia is creating deeper integrations with Atlassian’s Jira and different apps, like Linear, below its new proprietor.