For years, Google (or any other search engine) has been the main gateway for people to discover websites and other content. Thebrowser.company which makes Arc Browser, seeks to change that by creating an AI that browses the web for you and returns the results without going through the search engines.
The company presented its product roadmap, which talks about launching a new tool in the coming months where you can tell the browser what you are looking for and it will present relevant information by automatically crawling the web.
In a video posted today, Josh Miller, co-founder and CEO of the company, shows that users will be able to type something like "Reservation for two at Llama Inn or Kings Imperial," and the browser will return results with available time slots, which will be available in the coming months. Users can then reserve a table by accessing a site in particular with just one click.
The product plan
The company has already started some of this work. He said only some of these features use LLM, but they all work in an effort to "bring the Internet to you."
Earlier this week, it launched a new web browser app for iPhone called Arc Search. The app has a function “search for me,” which reads at least six links related to the topic and creates a new web page with photos and videos while summarizing the information.
The startup is also launching a feature called “instant links,” which leads directly to a link instead of returning search engine results. For example, if you search for “Gladiator 2 trailer,” the new feature will take you directly to the trailer on YouTube. This also works on folders, so if you search for something like “Apple Vision Pro Reviews Folder” it will create a folder with Vision Pro review stories from different publications.
At the end of this month, the company will launch a function «Live Folder. It will work the same as folders, but these folders will automatically update when an event like a new blog post occurs. In the video, Miller also shows that you can update filters for folders. Examples include a new story on a topic or someone mentioning you in the linear issue tracker. It sounds like a mix of reading RSS feeds and page updates, but we don't know if it can track changes to a page.
The story of arc
Browsers often make money by making deals with search engines, having their own ad units or, in some cases, offer subscriptions. The Browser Company maintains that Chrome and other browsers are aligned to make the user perform more searches, so that more advertising money flows. That's why you want to eliminate the middlemen and offer you results directly.
Arc Browser wants to change the way we browse the web and get results quickly. It's also trying to use AI agents in a different way, not by putting them in a sidebar to write posts. In October 2023, the company launched new AI features including renaming tabs and downloaded files and displaying a preview summary of a link.
On the other hand, as the role of AI-powered agents increases on the Internet, questions are arising about how to return value to the publishers and blogs whose content you are searching and summarizing.
Last year, in a video, the company said it would never sell user data to third parties in exchange for money. But it will explore avenues like Arc for Teams. But he hasn't announced anything yet.
There is also a debate about how AI selects the “best” results. For different people, the preference may be different and the result may not be the best for them.
Given the rise in popularity of LLMs, startups like OpenAI and Perplexity are pushing people to get answers on their platforms. Search players like Google, Microsoft and DuckDuckGo have also been leaning towards AI-powered search. Arc believes that the time has come to implement a new search method in the web browser.
