Opera Unveils AI-Powered Browser ‘Neon’ for Power Users: Transforming Web Browsing and App Creation
Opera unveiled its AI-focused browser, Neon, on Tuesday, offering users the ability to create apps through AI prompts and repeatable prompts via a feature called cards. This move places Opera among a growing number of companies like Perplexity and The Browser Company, striving to revolutionize browsing experiences with agentic browsers.
Initially announced in May, Neon was previously available only in closed preview. Beginning now, the company will extend invitations to select individuals for a monthly fee of $19.99, enabling them to explore and shape the future of intelligent browsing.
Krystian Kolondra, EVP Browsers at Opera, said in a statement, “We developed Opera Neon for those who extensively use AI in their daily activities, and today we welcome our first users to jointly shape the future of agentic browsing.”
Neon’s core features include a chatbot for answering queries and Neon Do, an agentic feature that streamlines tasks. For instance, it can summarize a Substack blog and post the summary to a Slack channel or retrieve details from a YouTube video watched last week or a post read yesterday based on browsing history.
The browser also possesses code-writing capabilities, useful for creating visual reports with tables and charts. It remains unclear whether these mini-apps can be shared at present.
Opera Neon introduces Tasks, a novel tab organization feature encompassing workspaces of AI chats and tabs. This functionality resembles a fusion of Tab Groups and Arc Browser’s workspace feature, offering distinct context for AI.
In its demonstration, Opera showcased Neon performing tasks such as grocery ordering. However, it is essential to note that demos may not always accurately reflect real-world scenarios, especially with AI products. Thus, Neon must prove its capabilities in practice.
By launching Neon, Opera is entering the competitive landscape against Perplexity’s Comet and Dia. Major tech players like Google and Microsoft are also incorporating more AI-driven functionalities into their browsers. Distinctively, Opera positions Neon as a product tailored for power users with its monthly subscription.
