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Arc Browser has been discontinued, but the company's building a new browser: Dia

In 2022, Arc Browser was termed as the "Chrome replacement" that people wanted. Three years later, The Browser Company has discontinued the app, all because it wants to build a new browser, Dia.

Josh Miller, the CEO of The Browser Company, has published a Letter to Arc members, explaining why the app is being shuttered. Arc was created as an Internet Computer that was designed for work, personal life, as an all-in-one browser. Miller says that Arc failed due to a "novelty tax" problem, it did not manage to retain users primarily because it differed too much from a traditional browser. Its interface was different, and the whole workflow was unique, users were not willing to put in the effort to re-learn how to browse, or even to switch to another browser. When I wrote about it 2 years ago, I pointed out that Arc has a learning curve, and that it could deter users. Apparently, the browser's key features like Spaces, Live Folders, Calendar Preview were barely used.

Miller says that his company began working on Dia, a simpler browser. It will get rid of Arc's bloat, and use familiar interfaces. Dia is also touted as a lightweight, snappy, responsive app. The most important thing here is that Dia will integrate an AI. Who would have guessed?

Miller claims that traditional browsers will die, in favor of AI-powered features. He goes on to say that web pages consisting of apps, articles, files will become tools that can be accessed with AI chat interfaces which are basically like browsers. Are they? Dia will act as an AI agent that is also your web browser.  He also highlighted that security is a priority for Dia.

One more thing that is worth mentioning here is that Miller had stated that it wouldn't be possible to open source Arc's codebase, because it isn't merely a fork of Chromium, it uses a custom infrastructure called Arc Development Kit (ADK), and that it was the company's secret sauce. ADK is also the foundation of Dia, so it won't be open sourced, not now anyway. This explanation was met with criticism from fans who would rather see the project live on with the help of contributors. Shortly after, when a user proposed a community-run Arc, Miller said he was open to the idea, for which was once again criticized because he had just rejected the notion. I would like to point out that The Browser Company was valued at $550 million in March 2024. It is possible that the company is keeping a closed lid on the source code due to its investors, even though they are claiming otherwise.

Naturally, Arc users were far from pleased to hear about the news about the browser's discontinuation, and have criticized the whole idea. There is absolutely no need to reinvent the wheel here, it would have been better to simplify Arc, i.e. declutter it. But no, the answer is AI.

There you have it, folks. AI is going to solve everything! That's exactly what Microsoft did with Edge and Copilot, Google is adding Gemini AI to Chrome. ChatGPT and Perplexity may be the cool new toys now, but they can't replace a traditional browser or app. There is one lesson that none of these companies have learned, not everyone wants to use an AI, not every task needs an AI!

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