Thursday, 1 January 2024, Bengaluru, India
For many years, the primary means by which individuals have found websites and other content has been Google (or any other search engine). To remedy that, the Browser Company behind the Arc Browser is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) that searches the web on your behalf and returns results while eluding search engines.
(Image Source: https://in.mashable.com/)
According to the company’s product roadmap, a new tool that will allow you to tell the browser what you’re looking for and have it automatically crawl the web and present you with relevant content will be released in the coming months.
Josh Miller, the co-founder and CEO of the business, demonstrates in a video that was just released that users can type in something like “Reservation for two people at either Llama Inn or Kings Imperial.” The browser will return results with available time slots—that is, in the months to come. After that, customers only need to click on one link to visit a particular website to book a table.
The product schedule
The company has already initiated part of this effort. According to the business, all of these functions strive to “bring the internet to you,” even though only a few use LLMs.
Earlier this week, it unveiled Arc Search, a brand-new iPhone web browser app. The “browse for me” feature of the app examines at least six relevant URLs and generates a new webpage with images and videos, providing a summary of the content.
The startup is launching an “instant links” feature today that delivers you straight to a link instead of the search engine’s results. For example, the new function will send you directly to the trailer on YouTube when you search for “Gladiator 2 trailer.” This also applies to folders, so if you search “Folder of Apple Vision Pro reviews,” for example, a folder containing stories on Vision Pro reviews from various media will be created.
The “Live Folder” functionality will be released by the corporation later this month. Similar to folders, although this time, these folders will be updated automatically whenever something happens, like a new blog post. Miller also demonstrates how to update folder filters in the video. Two examples are a fresh article on the subject or a mention of you in the Linear problem-tracking tool. We’re not sure if it can follow page changes, but it sounds like a combination of scanning RSS feeds and page updates.
The narrative arc
Typically, browsers monetize through partnerships with search engines, their ad stacks, or, occasionally, subscription services. According to The Browser Company, Chrome, and other browsers are designed to encourage more searches so that more money may be made from advertisements. It thus eliminates intermediaries and provides you with results straight away.
Arc Browser aims to transform web browsing and speed up results. Additionally, by not placing AI agents in a sidebar to compose posts, it seeks to use them in a novel way. The company unveiled new AI functions in October 2023, such as renaming tabs and downloaded files and providing a link’s preview summary.
On the other hand, there are concerns about how to give publishers and bloggers whose information you are retrieving and summarizing value as the role of AI-powered agents grows on the internet.
The business declared in a video from the previous year that it would never sell customer data to outside parties for profit. However, it will investigate paths like Arc for Teams. However, nothing has been announced as of yet.
The process by which AI chooses the “best” outcomes is likewise up for discussion. Different people may have other preferences, which may be better.
Because LLMs are becoming increasingly popular, startups like OpenAI and Perplexity are urging people to use their platforms to seek solutions. Google, DuckDuckGo, Microsoft, and other search industry players have all embraced AI-powered search. Arc believes the moment is right to introduce a fresh search feature to your web browser.
(Information Source: Techcrunch.com)
