Arc Search for iPhone Merges AI and Web Search in a Browser App

[Speed38]

Oh man...I most definitely want this! I already use ChatGPT to do most of my web searching now. My search engine use has probably gone down by around 75% in the last year.

This seems to me the logical next step for Internet navigation, especially now that results from search engines are getting worse due to spam. Even if search engines weren't getting worse, browsing would still go the way of generative AI, and I'm all for it.

Incidentally, I may have misunderstood something about generative AI (something that I hope is true). I was worried that biases and disinformation online would disrupt the truthfulness of the LLM AIs, but it seems that they may be robust to the nonsense because they read everything. Why are experts better at sorting the likely true bits from the likely false? Are they simply better-read than the rest of us in their particular areas?

Maybe future LLM AIs (perhaps paired with some explicit ability to form models and check for internal inconsistencies...if those features don't already organically emerge in LLM training) will become true experts by virtue of being so well-read.

Well, well, someone else who likes having the AI search engines available. You did not mention Perplexity.ia, which IMHO is even better than ChatGPT in that it delivers links and footnotes for each fact it produces in it's search results.

 

[Speed38]

If you ignore the AI, the browser itself is very fluid and snappy. I’m actually preferring it over Safari right now. But it is pretty bare bones.

It is so un-browser like that after 10' of playing around with it, I deleted it.

 

[Speed38]

BTW, as of 12:03 a.m., NY time, it is no longer available on the App Store.
Overwhelmed server???

 

[aevan]

Considering how many useless results Google returns these days, I'm glad someone finally made a decent search app.

(is this a peek at "what if Siri actually becomes good?" 🤔)

I switched to Kagi. It’s not free, but so far I prefer it to Google

 

[Speed38]

Tell me, if you know: do search engines like Start Page, Swiss Cow, Brave Search, etc. all use Google when you use them to conduct your search...but don't share your identity with Google?

 

[jtdx99]

"A browser that browses for you" - I don't think anyone asked or wants this.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

sweet, but only on mobile and only for iphone right? no way to have it on macOS

 

[cupcakes2000]

I’ve been toying a bit with it, and unfortunately, the only search engine it uses is Google. I haven’t found a way to change it to DuckDuckGo.

Just change it in the app settings...

 

[Populus]

Just change it in the app settings...

I’ve looked for it before asking, I swear, but I didn’t find it on Arc’s settings.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I’ve looked for it before asking, I swear, but I didn’t find it on Arc’s settings.

Little arrow bottom right>settings bottom right>scroll to near the bottom.

 

[Populus]

Little arrow bottom right>settings bottom right>scroll to near the bottom.

Many thanks. It’s weird, because that doesn’t seem to be exactly the same settings panel that shows to me inside the app:

 

[cupcakes2000]

Many thanks. It’s weird, because that doesn’t seem to be exactly the same settings panel that shows to me inside the app:

View attachment 2342776View attachment 2342778View attachment 2342777

Ha! Oh yes?! How very bizarre! That’s nothing like mine at all 😂

 

[cupcakes2000]

Perhaps you need to update it? On the App Store it’s announcing that it’s a new feature..

 

[Populus]

Perhaps you need to update it? On the App Store it’s announcing that it’s a new feature..

You’re right, lots of new features added just four hours ago 😆

 

[GeneticBloom]

I wish there was a way to disable the haptic feedback when it's compiling the page, I hate it.

 

[maxoakland]

AI search is bad. The only reason people are using it is because Google has gotten horrible over the years, filling up with spam. They could fix that but it doesn't look like they care

 

[svish]

Very interesting. Will definitely try this out.

 

[Frantisekj]

I'm concerned enough already about the manipulation of the information we all consume on a daily basis without having an AI warp it for me even further. No thanks. I'll use my brain, biases and faults and all.

That is exactly my experience. I gave it try and it seem just like nice front end for corporate AI results as it served me on first try just biased b...ts corporate AI produce. That is reason to be afraid AI because many developers will just be used to serve evil intentions thinking they do good for humanity. It is all the time the same.

 

[LightProtector]

It is so un-browser like that after 10' of playing around with it, I deleted it.

Damn, sorry to hear that. I’ve been using it for a bit now and I actually really like it. But it’s not complete and there are definitely times where I switch back to Safari for some things.

But Arc Search is perfect for when you want to search something up really fast.

 

[NewOldStock]

Complicated at first. Really fast. Built on chrome with android and google stuff stripped out they claim.
Goes around advertisements in the search engines from tracking your searches. Only a few hours usage but liking what I see so far. Permissions was scary for me personally to give away but encryption is in there and only as good as the programmers input hope it goes well. Hey Mikey He Likes it! 70`s throw back...lol

 

[Vulkan]

Just give me a native iPadOS version and I’m set.