The AI-powered browser Dia is taking cues from its forerunner, Arc, which was an earlier attempt by The Browser Company to reimagine web browsing. On Sunday, Josh Miller, the founder of The Browser Company, revealed that Dia will incorporate some of Arc’s most popular features—such as the sidebar mode—while also introducing AI-centric capabilities like memory and agents.
This indicates that Dia, which Atlassian recently purchased for $610 million, may have a leg up in the competition among AI browsers, as it benefits from the lessons learned during Arc’s development.
Arc was first introduced in mid-2023 as a fresh take on browsers, tailored for modern internet habits. Its features included separate spaces for work and personal use, the ability to pin tabs, a Command Bar reminiscent of Apple’s Spotlight, and a sidebar that housed the search bar, tab overview, bookmarks, audio controls, and more.
Yet, Arc may have been too ambitious: Miller later acknowledged that its complexity made it difficult for most users to embrace.
“Arc was just too unfamiliar, with too many new concepts to grasp and not enough payoff... Additionally, Arc lacked unity in both its main features and its core principles. It was experimental—which gave it appeal—but also made it complicated,” Miller explained in a blog post earlier this year, where he discussed the decision to discontinue Arc, release it as open source, and shift focus to developing Dia.
Still, Arc’s journey wasn’t necessarily a loss, even if it didn’t achieve mass adoption. Instead, it provided the company with over a year’s worth of valuable feedback on which modern browser features users appreciate and which fall flat.
This knowledge could give the team an edge as they expand Dia’s capabilities.
As Miller mentioned in a post on X, “Dia’s framework is much better suited for AI, speed, and security,” but it will also bring back fan-favorite Arc features like the sidebar mode, which recently appeared in Dia’s latest “early birds” release.
Dia has already introduced several of Arc’s standout features, like automatically turning Google Meet into a picture-in-picture window when switching tabs and allowing for custom keyboard shortcuts. Miller also suggested the team is working on bringing Arc’s Spaces—unique browsing environments with their own pinned tabs, favorites, themes, history, and cookies—to Dia, and that pinned tabs are currently being tested.
Miller also asked for suggestions on additional features, such as swipeable profiles and updates to the Dia mobile app inspired by Arc Search, expected in 2026.
Additionally, Miller points out that Dia will be more streamlined and built natively for AI-driven features like memory and agents.
After Atlassian’s acquisition, The Browser Company remains an independent entity. Miller said this will allow them to incorporate more of the “browser basics”—referring to beloved Arc features—into Dia. He also mentioned that Dia is working on deeper integrations with Atlassian’s Jira and other tools, such as Linear, under its new ownership.
