Arc Browser uses AI to get live folders and instant links

Days after launching an AI-powered mobile app called ArcSearch, the browser company is making some big (and definitely AI-powered) changes to its desktop browser.

Unlike Arc Search, which is essentially a complete redesign of using the Internet on your phone, Arc’s new features for Mac and Windows are much simpler and more convenient. It bookmarks your searches without the need for a Google page and keeps you updated on the things that matter to you without the need for another app. About the World of Arc web browser.

For example, the new Instant Links feature is a way to use AI to bypass search engines: if you’re looking for something specific, eg This is the “blank space” story. If you’re performing from Taylor Swift’s Sydney stop on her 1989 World Tour, you can simply ask Ark’s AI bot to do it and that link will appear as an open tab in your sidebar. The browser maker suggests reviewing several products for comparison or for some good recipes. Every time you go to Google and click on the first eight links, Arc can easily add those links to your tab bar.

A similar feature called Live Folders will also be available in the Arc beta in a few weeks. Live folders are essentially a live stream of data that updates from anywhere – an RSS feed can add new articles to your reading list every time it refreshes, and you’ll get a new tab whenever a content creator updates a new video type you like. of.

According to Josh Miller, CEO of The Browser Company, the idea is to simplify some of the multi-step processes involved in using the Internet. “When you set up a Google Alert,” he says, “you get an email, click something, switch apps… just to open a link in your browser. Why aren’t we opening the link in your browser?” Like the experimental Arc Max features the company shipped a few months ago, the goal, he says, is to make the Internet a little faster, a little more intuitive. And a little more useful than an app with a bunch of tabs

Arc Explore, the desktop version of Arc Search’s “browse for me” feature that creates a personalized webpage with AI-generated information about anything you search for, is the browser company’s most ambitious project yet. Other features are convenient and straightforward and can either be used or ignored. But exploration has many implications beyond your browser.

The browser company calls Arc Explore “a tool to automate your browsing journey end-to-end,” promising that you can request information on any topic or question, and Arc will search the web and use artificial intelligence to deliver a summary with links and information. . . That’s good for Arc and probably good for users, but what does that mean for the Internet as a whole? Miller agrees that it’s a big change, but he doesn’t seem to care about what it might mean. “We’re struggling with technology, we’re struggling with a revolution in software and the way computers work, and that’s going to make some things worse,” he says. “But I think it will be more positive than negative.” (Miller and I recently talked about all of this on next Tuesday’s episode vertcast – available Wherever you get your podcast!)

All of these changes are part of what the browser company calls Arc’s “second act” as the company focuses more on artificial intelligence. Frankly, every browser is becoming more AI-focused: Edge runs entirely on Copilot, Chrome is getting some tab management features that Arc is introducing, and Opera and others are betting that AI and browsers are the future of the web. of AI. The AI ​​browser wars are here, they’re moving fast, and there’s no telling how they’ll change the way the Internet works.