Dia browser beta launched with AI features

The Browser Company, the makers of the now-discontinued Arc Browser, have launched a beta version of their AI-powered Dia browser. It is, unsurprisingly, based on Chromium's engine.

Dia is invite only. You need to join a waitlist just to start using the browser, to join you will need to provide your email address. The Browser Company says that Arc users get immediate access to Dia, and that members can invite other users to try the browser.

To download Dia browser, head to https://www.diabrowser.com/. Click on the "Early access download for Arc Members" at the top of the web page, the link only appears on Mac. This will take you to a page to Download Dia. Install and run the app, and Dia browser will greet you with a video, followed by a screen that highlights the browser's features. Next, you will need to log in to your account. Oh, and this time you can't use your Arc credentials, you will need to sign up for a Dia account. Here are the service's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for your reference.

Dia offers to import your passwords, history, bookmarks, but only from Chrome, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Edge. Support for Safari is coming soon, and it doesn't support Firefox. Interesting!

You can pick an accent color for the browser, and then it presents its AI features. Personal Intelligence. Dia will assist you on any tab and page, you can tailor it to your experience. The AI chatbot will not tie your usage with your account, and will delete the data after 30 days.

Dia offers to block third-party ads and trackers, and there is also an option to opt out of sharing content data. Both options are pre-checked, as is the option to set it as the default browser on the next page. With that out of the way, we can finally start using the browser and explore its features. Phew!

There is a huge chat window on the right, which you can use to interact with Dia, or close it. The browser's UI looks like Chrome, the settings kind of resemble Safari, and unfortunately there are barely any settings to tweak, and no support for extensions. It really is just a browser with a chatbot baked in, you can use it to summarize web pages, interact with videos, etc. You know how AI works. In addition to this, it has "skills", which are agentic AIs, and you can also create your own skills. Take a look at this video to learn more about the AI's features.

The address bar of the browser also doubles as Dia's interface, you can use it to manage tabs by mentioning them like @ghacks, and you can also work with files. Click on the new tab button, and it brings a huge bar, which is the chatbot's UI, search, address bar, etc. There's really not much to say about the browser. The ad blocker doesn't work on YouTube, but does seem to do a decent job on most web pages.

Dia is exclusively available for Mac, but there are some things you should know. Google Chrome works on any Mac that runs on macOS Big Sur 11 and up, Dia is based on Chromium, logically the requirements should be identical, correct? Nope, Dia requires macOS 14 or higher. Oddly, there is another restriction in place, Dia is only compatible with Apple Silicon M1 chips or later. macOS 26 Tahoe is available for 4 Intel Macs: the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, 2020 Intel 13-inch MacBook Pro, 2020 iMac, and the 2019 Mac Pro. But a browser can't run on these?

There is no ETA for the Windows version, which feels like a mistake. If an app need more users onboard, Windows and Linux can't be ignored. Arc took too long to arrive on Windows, it was actually released a year after the macOS version was launched. Arc's problem was that it had too many features, so it may have taken longer for the developers to bring them over to other platforms. Dia is a simplified browser, so I think it is fair to expect the Windows version won't take long to arrive.

That said, Dia is a bit too simple, and this is something Arc users would probably not like about it. In a recent Waveform Podcast with MKBHD, Josh Miller, the CEO of The Browser Company, revealed some interesting things about Dia. He said that Dia will eventually charge money, but not for the browser. The plan is to create premium bundles for users who want more powerful, personalized capabilities. Miller also said that some core Arc features such as vertical tabs, sidebar features, and a better UI will begin arriving between Labor Day and Thanksgiving 2025. There are also plans to bring full AI agent functionality/ambient memory as part of a multi-year rollout. A summary of the podcast is available here.

Miller said and I quote, "People aren't interfacing with the internet through web pages anymore. They're interfacing with AI models." He also pointed out that the interface to the internet should be able to handle web pages and chat.

I respectfully disagree with the idea that having a chat interface is central to a browser. Every web browser works with AI services, because they are web pages too, and that is how most people use them.  Other browsers have integrated chat in their browser too, Brave has Leo AI, Opera has Aria, Edge has Copilot, Chrome integrated Gemini. The difference is, these AI features are optional, a user who wants to use them will use them. And those who don't will simply disable the feature and use the browser. With Dia, the AI is everywhere, even in the address bar, it's not optional.

This is the same mistake they did with Arc, users will not re-learn how to browse, because they don't have to, they already have a browser that does things the way they want. It's unrealistic to expect users to change their habits.

Imagine if OpenAI made a browser and integrated ChatGPT in it, that's what Dia browser feels like. I'm not sure if that's something people would like. Do you?