What Is Arc Search And How To Use It. The New Threat To Google From The Makers Of The Arc Browser

When we’re talking about the existential AI threat to Google search, this is what we mean. People getting used to a different kind of search. The Browser Company has released Arc Search, a new iOS app that takes a user's search query, browses the web, and builds a custom webpage to answer the query.

Now, you might be familiar with The Browser company. They make that Arc Browser that some people are absolutely evangelical about. And though, technically, Arc Search, which at the time of this recording is already #7 in the app store for utilities, is just a browser, it’s their special browse for me button that is the key.

Quoting David Pierce in The Verge:

A few minutes ago, I opened the new Arc Search app and typed, “What happened in the Chiefs game.” That game, the AFC Championship, had just wrapped up. Normally, I’d Google it, click on a few links, and read about the game that way. But in Arc Search, I typed the query and tapped the “Browse for me” button instead.

Arc Search, the new iOS app from The Browser Company, which has been working on a browser called Arc for the last few years, went to work. It scoured the web — reading six pages, it told me, from Twitter to The Guardian to USA Today — and returned a bunch of information a few seconds later. I got the headline: Chiefs win. I got the final score, the key play, a “notable event” that also just said the Chiefs won, a note about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, a bunch of related links, and some more bullet points about the game.

Basically, instead of returning a bunch of search queries about the Chiefs game, Arc Search built me a webpage about it. And somewhere in there is The Browser Company’s big idea about the future of web browsers — that a browser, a search engine, an AI chatbot, and a website aren’t different things. They’re all just parts of an internet information finder, and they might as well exist inside the same app. ENDQUOTE

In other words, its not quite what folks are going for with GPTs, or Bard, say: it’s not a bot that just gives you the answer to your question. But it is a bot that goes through and, essentially, clicks on the 10 blue links of traditional Google search, reads all the webpages for you, and comes back with a summary.

TechCrunch, for example, queried how to make a perfect poached egg. Not only did they get the steps, they also go pictures, links to youtube videos. MacRumors asked how to change a car tire.

I asked if Gene Hackman had retired from acting. It told me what Gene has been up to these past few years. I asked for the best performing stocks of the S&P 500 in 2023, and it queried the likely places like yahoo finance, and I’m sure if I had clicked through on a link, I could have gotten to a page where somebody listed this neatly, but I didn’t have to.

This is sort of what we were talking about this weekend with our conversation with Baratunde Thurston. I’m not saying Google couldn’t do something similar, and probably will eventually, but that’s the point. The idea of the web being this universe of links and pages that we have to curate ourselves might already be on the way out.

As MartinSFP Bryant said on Threads: Is it the future of search or is it a novelty that will be ruined by hallucinations...? I have a horrible feeling the answer might be 'both' ENDQUOTE

If you download this and give it a try, you might come away with the sense that it’s just another web browser. Fair enough. But try that search icon down at the bottom and be sure to hit the browse for me button cause that’s where the action is. The summary webpage. Quoting Techcrunch:

These pages are great for me to get information at glance, and I can also use the “Dive Deeper” section to explore additional links listed for the topic. However, at the moment I can’t share these pages with anyone unless I take a screenshot.

If users don’t want to use the AI-powered feature, they can just tap on the query to use Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Ecosia — whichever you have set as default.

Notably, last week, the Browser Company announced that users can set Preplexity as their default search engine on the Arc’s desktop client. But it’s not clear if this option will be available for the mobile client.

There is also a reader mode for all webpage for easy reading and you can bookmark the webpage as well. But there is no folder system to store these bookmarks.

Arc Search browser also archives tabs after 1 day (this is customizable) to save you from tab overload. You can look at your open tabs through the tab switcher on the bottom bar, or you can swipe and hold from the left edge of the screen. ENDQUOTE

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