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 often called The Browser Firm. On Sunday, The Browser Firm’s founder, Josh Miller, confirmed that the brand new AI browser will carry “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, might 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 right now. That included providing separate workspaces for work and private shopping, help for pinned tabs, a Command Bar that labored like Apple’s Highlight search, and a sidebar that included the search bar, tab listing, consumer bookmarks, audio controls, and extra.
Nonetheless, Arc could have tried to push the envelope a bit too far: Miller later admitted that Arc was finally too advanced for most individuals to undertake.
“Arc was just too totally different, with too many new issues to be taught, for too little reward … On high of that, Arc lacked cohesion in each its core options and core values. It was experimental — that was a part of its appeal — but in addition its complexity,” Miller wrote in a weblog publish earlier this 12 months, detailing the corporate’s determination 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 turn into a extensively adopted client product. As an alternative, the browser gave the corporate over a 12 months’s value 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 publish on X, “Dia’s structure is a lot better for AI, velocity, and safety,” however it’s going to introduce options that Arc followers beloved, 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 routinely once you swap tabs and customized keyboard shortcuts. Miller hinted that the corporate is exploring how you can transition Arc’s Areas — the distinct shopping areas with their very own set of pinned tabs, favorites, themes, historical past, and cookies — to Dia. And he mentioned Dia’s staff is presently 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 cellular app coming in 2026.
Plus, Miller notes, Dia could have much less bloat and shall be AI native for issues like reminiscence and brokers.
Following the acquisition by Atlassian, The Browser Firm continues to function independently. In consequence, Miller mentioned the corporate will be capable of 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, beneath its new proprietor.
