When the Browser Company launched its Arc web browser, it was heralded by part of the media as the evolution that browsers needed. Then, the Browser Company announced that it would discontinue its browser to focus on another. This new browser, called Dia, would be an AI-browser first and foremost.
It was not really clear why, but the recent announcement of a Pro subscription plan could shed some light into the plans.
Dia, which is available in early testing for certain Mac devices only, is free to use. The AI parts have limits, however, and the newly announced Pro subscription unlocks unlimited access to the AI.
For $20 per month, users gain unlimited access. The first commercial subscription plan is just the beginning, as The Browser company plans to introduce additional plans that may cost between $5 and several hundred Dollars per month.
The price of a Pro subscription is just shy of the price of a ChatGPT Plus or Google AI Pro subscription. Granted, Dia appears to offer tighter integration in a browser.
Dia offers integration of a chatbot, but one feature that sets it apart from competing browsers currently is skills. These are shortcuts for repetitive tasks. It also supports cross-tab analysis and content synthesis. Is that enough to warrant a subscription? Only time will tell, but my initial take is that it will be very difficult for the company to turn a profit, unless it bakes something into the browser that is truly useful.
Now You: would you pay for a browser? What is your take on the $20 per month price of a subscription? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
They didnt finish their first browser, why would i give them money for another one with useless ai “features” theyll abandon in a year tops as well
Nope.
Never going to use any AI untill all data and your inputs are local only, and are never tracked and never for any reason leave my system. Look at all the data breaches that have happened. Now think about all the things you might just ask AI about, Medical, Financial, Travel, Political, Everything.
You know, you can download basic version of most AI models on your computer and run them afterward without Internet connection. If you have an OK graphic card and Intel 7, you can probably get models that can generate images or write code. I tried text-only models myself. They are slow and took a lot of resources, but it works.
If you need it for serious work, and you have a top of the line gaming PC, you can run medium level AI models. You can probably even generate 5-second videos locally.
At the end, unless you run a server farm, you will not get AI running superfast and efficiently. But if you have a little bit paranoid about privacy, you can do a lot of stuff locally and secure.
I wouldn’t use an ‘AI-Browser’ to start with as I wouldn’t pay for whatever browser. I did pay for a life-time Opera browser license, but that was many, many years ago.
Nuance imposed by utopian imaginings: I could consider paying for a license and even for a subscription if a dream browser ever made its way, a browser totally respectful of privacy, protected by top-notch security, natively 100% guaranteed against intrusions be they advertisement and tracking. I’d pay even more for such a browser included in an OS to be as well. Dream, bro, dream.
For some AI Browser no. For a Browser that leaves zero footprint, prevents tracking in any form and one that allows to avoid all those age checks and mass surveillance, yes.