With the web browser a key part of any operating system, a shift in how browsers work will impact countless users’ lives. This makes today’s hiring announcement by The Browser Company’s CEO Josh Miller is both intriguing and important.
“Huge hiring news to share: Apple’s Safari browser has 2 lead designers. Today we’re welcoming one of them, Charlie Deets to The Browser Company team! It’s a big deal for us — and plays into a larger strategic bet we’re making in 2024.“
That move involves the key phrase that will be mentioned in almost every product launch: the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence. Following the announcement, Miller goes on to talk about the company’s plans to integrate AI into its Arc Browser with the tagline “the browser that browses for you.” To accommodate the new way of thinking about the browsing experience, use the browser to support you pro-actively.
That requires thinking about the interface desig, and that’s where hiring Charlie Deets is important.
Unlike a desktop browser, any browser running on an iPhone or iPad is forced to use Apple’s own Webkit rendering engine (a practice called out by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act). To make any material difference in the iPhone browser experience, it cannot be made in how the pages are rendered or laid out, but instead have to be in the interface. The use of AI in the Arc Browser offers something more than a light reskinning of the WebKit browser engine to look different to Safari.
How much difference can AI make to the underlying experience? Arc can answer that, assuming The Browser Company can find a happy user base to buy into the vision. Yet there is something bigger in the wings; Apple’s expected showcasing of AI at the upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference should help with the idea of AI in a browser… how much of that AI influence will be adopted by Safari and how much Apple will leave for third parties to leverage?
Now read about more changes Apple has to make in the European Union…
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