The AI Dia web browser draws inspiration from its predecessor, Bowan earlier experiment to modernize the Internet browsing experience started by a startup known as The Browser Company. On Sunday, the founder of The Browser Company This was confirmed by Josh Miller that the new AI browser will give Dia “Arc's greatest hits,” including things like sidebar mode, and combine it with AI-native features like storage and agents.
This explanation suggests that Dia, which was acquired by Atlassian for $610 million, may have an advantage in the AI browser race because it builds on the company's previous lessons learned while building Arc.
The latter was initially released in mid-2023 as a new iteration of the browser designed with today's internet usage in mind. This included offering separate workspaces for work and personal browsing, support for pinned tabs, a command bar that worked like Apple's Spotlight search engine, and a sidebar that included a search bar, tab list, user bookmarks, audio controls, and more.
However, Arc may have tried to push the envelope a little too far: Miller later admitted that Arc was ultimately too complex for most people to embrace.
“Arc was simply too different, requiring too many new things to learn for too little reward… Moreover, Arc lacked consistency in both core features and core values. It was experimental, which was part of its charm, but also its complexity,” Miller wrote in a blog post earlier this year, detailing the company's operations decision to close Arca and open it to source code, and refocusing the company's efforts on building Dia.
But Arc isn't necessarily a failure, even if it hasn't become a widely adopted consumer product. Instead, the browser has given the company more than a year of insight into what features of modern browsers users like and don't like.
This could help the company make progress in developing the feature set for Dia.
As Miller stated in a post on the latest “early bird” version of the AI Dia browser.
Already Dia added other features with “Arc's Greatest Hits,” like automatically turning Google Meet into a picture-in-picture player with tab switches and custom keyboard shortcuts. Miller he suggested that the company is exploring how to bring Arc's Spaces — distinct browsing areas with their own set of pinned tabs, favorites, themes, histories, and cookies — to Dia. And he said Dia's team did I'm currently testing pinned tabs.
Miller also asked for feedback on other features he could add, such as: sliding profilesAND Arc Search inspired Dia mobile app updates will come in 2026.
Additionally, Miller notes, Dia will be less bloated and will be supported by artificial intelligence for things like memory and agents.
Following its acquisition by Atlassian, The Browser Company continues to operate independently. As a result, Miller said the company will be able to add more “browser basics” relating to Arc's favorite features to the Dia browser. He also shared that Dia is working on deeper integration with Atlassian's Jira and other applications like Linear under new ownership.
