One of the most innovative features of the mobile web browser Arc search from The Browser Company is his ability to search the web for you and then spit out a summary of what it learned, rather than returning a more traditional set of search results. The ‘Browse for Me’ feature is one of the many ways the company has harnessed artificial intelligence to offer a new way to search the web. Another, “pinch to summarize”, provides an AI summary of individual web pages. However, it appears that these AI features could also be the target of Apple’s latest “sherlocking” effort — a term that refers to how Apple has historically borrowed ideas from its developer community to enrich its own apps and operating system functions.
The term originated after Apple released a finder app called Sherlock in the late 1990s, which offered features similar to a third-party finder app Watson. Since then, whenever Apple ships a new feature or app that seems “inspired” by another, it’s referred to as “sherlocking.”
In recent years, Apple has been accused of sherlocking products like Camo, which lets you use your iPhone as a webcam. This became a built-in feature known as Continuity Camera. It killed off apps like Duet Display and Luna with the release of Sidecar, a way to use the iPad as a second screen. Apple’s buy now, pay later service, Apple Pay Later, is said to have had other BNPL apps like Klarna and others shellocked. Medication tracking, period tracking, mood logging, calendar, and sleep tracking features, to name a few, were also first found in the third-party developer community.
With the release of iOS 18 later this year, Apple may again be borrowing ideas from its app developer community. This time it’s Arc that could be among those affected.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, Apple is planning to release a new technology called “smart recaps”, among other AI-powered additions to core apps like Photos, Notes, and Safari. As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman describes it, Smart Summaries will provide users with “summaries of missed notifications and individual text messages, as well as web pages, news articlesdocuments, notes and other media’ [emphasis ours].
AI-powered web summarization is one of the things Arc is now known for — and an area in which the company continues to innovate. For example, last week Arc launched another new way to search the web with AI, called “Call Arc,” where you hold the phone up to your ear and ask a question. Combined with the “browse for me” and “pinch to summary” search tools, Arc offers users a way to use artificial intelligence as a search companion.
News summarization with artificial intelligence, more broadly, has also been the focus of several startups, including apps like Particle from ex-Twitter engineers, smart RSS feedtrend summary Break the weband countless other iOS apps.
If Apple bundles AI-based recaps into its Safari browser, the demand for alternative browsers or apps that offer their own AI tools may decrease. However, this won’t necessarily be enough to impact Arc’s growth. The startup behind the web browser is committed to experimenting with other ideas besides AI summaries, including new ways to minimize distractions, organize tabs, block ads and more, and with AI Assistant, Max.
As for The Browser Company, they’re not worried.
“That’s what makes our job so much fun,” said co-founder and CEO Josh Miller. “It pushes us to be even more imaginative and courageous.”
