Back in May of this year, Opera announced Neon, its first AI-powered browser with some interesting takes on what artificial intelligence can do for modern internet browsing. Today, Opera Neon is rolling out to the first users.
In addition to traditional browsing capabilities like those of Chrome, Edge, Opera, or any other browser, Opera Neon offers agentic AI, which can act on your behalf and work on complex projects and tasks. These days, we usually have a bunch of tabs open when working on a single topic, and Opera Neon wants to simplify this flow by introducing Tasks. In a nutshell, Tasks are self-contained workspaces (like small browsers within a browser) where AI can understand the context and help you by analyzing, comparing, and acting across multiple pages at once.
Additionally, Opera Neon features cards, a set of reusable prompts that you can use whenever you like. Opera compares cards to a deck of your favorite and most useful AI behaviors and actions that you use most often. You can create your custom cards, use built-in, or access community-made collections in the store.
Finally, Opera Neon features the Neon Do feature, the biggest upgrade in the browser. Neon Do is your browser robot that uses AI to perform actions on your behalf: open tabs, close tabs, navigate the web, compare information, fill out forms, gather data, and more. Opera claims that Neon Do works only inside the actual browser and not in the cloud, which means it uses your local data, skipping the need to share passwords or authenticate with cloud services. All actions also happen on-screen and in real time, so that you can see what AI does for you.
You can tell the browser to do something, leave it be, and then return once everything is done. Should it need your intervention, Neon Do will pause and wait for your action. Additionally, you can pause, guide, or take control of Neon Do at any moment. Opera promises not to use your data for model training, not to share it with anyone, and to delete everything after 30 days.
From the announcement post:
Opera Neon represents Opera"s next leap - combining the proven foundation of a fully functional browser with advanced yet useful AI to serve professionals who live and work online.
Neon"s AI-powered capabilities are not free, though. Opera Neon is a premium, subscription-based browser that aims at power users first. The number of invitations is limited, but Opera promises to expand the rollout shortly. As for the price, Opera Neon will set you back $19.90 per month.