Opera Reinvents Itself With AI-Powered Browser Opera One

Opera joins the list of browsers that got an AI boost in 2023 with Opera One, its 100th version to date – and the first to introduce a “simultaneous” AI-assisted search experience. The new AI features are accessible in 180+ countries, optional, and free to use.

Opera first introduced Aria in May this year. Accessible from the sidebar, Aria allows users to communicate with the ChatGPT chatbot. But Opera One is taking AI out of the sidebar’s shadow and making it available alongside regular browsing features, creating a streamlined blend of a traditional and AI-powered search experience.

“As opposed to other browser companies, Opera didn’t simply add AI services to its browser. We went back to the drawing board and redesigned our flagship browser,” Joanna Czajka, product director at Opera, said in a press release.

Users can launch the chatbot on its own from the sidebar or use Opera’s AI Aria, which combines ChatGPT with up-to-date, live web results.
They can then prompt Aria with text or links to get short summaries generated by the AI conversation tool or receive immediate answers to their questions. Users can also highlight parts of a text to dive deeper into a subject with Aria’s help. They can customize the experience by sharing their preferences with Opera’s AI.

Aria also acts as a customer support assistant, offering a conversational, human-like approach to learning how it works, unlike traditional how-to guides that are typically more time-consuming to digest. Aria knows Opera’s support documentation by heart, meaning users can ask questions about Opera One’s features in natural language and receive straightforward answers.

Aside from the new AI features, what makes Opera One unique is its modular design that allows dynamic adaptation based on users’ needs. The Tab Islands feature, for instance, reinvents the way users can manage tabs. Thanks to the browser’s modular design, users can group tabs, and minimize them without closing them, while keeping another “island” of tabs nearby.

Microsoft Edge was the first browser to get an AI revamp, followed by ChatGPT-powered Bing. Google also introduced AI features to its search experience amid Microsoft’s rapid AI adoption. Still, Opera One, with its completely reinvented design and AI capabilities, seems to have undergone the most dramatic (AI) browser makeover in recent times.