The Browser Company, known for its experimental browser Arc, has been working on a new browser, Dia, since December 2024. The company's new product is supposed to fix the mistakes of the previous project and is betting heavily on artificial intelligence. And now, as TechCrunch writes, Dia can finally be tried in beta.
Dia is currently only available on macOS 14+ on Macs with M1 chips and for users with email accounts tied to Arc browser accounts. For others, there are two options - get an invite from those who have access, or join the waitlist and wait your turn.
Dia is based on Chromium and has a fairly simple and intuitive interface, the main feature of which is the presence of artificial intelligence. For example, the search bar in the browser also serves as an interface for a built-in chatbot. Like any chatbot, it will be able to search for information on the Internet, summarize files, and switch between chat and search functions.
In addition to the usual search, users will be able to ask AI questions about any open tab, based on which the chatbot can even write an extended draft. Meanwhile, the chatbot in Dia will adapt to users, changing the tone of communication, writing style, and coding parameters after several communication sessions.
Dia also has a "History" feature, which will allow the chatbot to use the history of visited sites over the past week as context for answering queries. Other features include "Skills" for creating small code snippets that will act as shortcuts for various settings.
As a reminder, the CEO of The Browser Company previously said that Arc failed due to its novelty and the large number of new features that required learning but did not provide much benefit. Now the company is considering selling the old browser, or opening it up to the community.