Opera, known as a popular web browser, offers users a fast and secure internet experience. Opera stands out with its advanced features and user-friendly interface. Features of the browser such as built-in ad blocker, VPN service, and battery saving mode allow users to access the internet more efficiently. Furthermore, Opera’s extensibility feature allows users to customize the browser by adding different plugins and themes. Opera Mini, optimized for mobile devices, is a fast and data-saving browser. Opera aims to continually offer new features to enhance the user’s online experience. It recently added a new feature to its capabilities.

Opera announced the introduction of an artificial intelligence sidebar called “Aria“, supported by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to its browser. Aria acts as both a web expert and browser expert, making it easier to find information on the web, generate text or code, or answer product questions. The new feature is currently in the testing stage.

Aria can answer questions about Opera because it is said to be in control of the browser’s “entire support documentation database”. Opera says Aria is based on the “composer” infrastructure and connects with OpenAI’s GPT technology, and has additional abilities like adding live results from the web.

Emphasizing that Aria is a free service with up-to-date information, Opera states that unlike standard GPT-based solutions, it is not limited to content prior to 2021. Aria has been made available in more than 180 countries.

To try Aria, you can download the latest version of Opera One. Android users can try Aria in the latest beta version of the browser. The only thing you need to do as a test user to access Aria is to create an Opera account if you don’t already have one. You will then receive an email or an in-product notification that your Opera Account has been whitelisted. Once your Opera Account is whitelisted, you can access Aria from the settings of Opera One or from the browser sidebar of Opera.

This new launch from Opera is based on the browser’s existing artificial intelligence features. Earlier this year, Opera integrated generative artificial intelligence chatbots supported by ChatGPT and ChatSonic into its desktop browsers Opera and Opera GX. It also offered a feature that allows you to create AI tips by highlighting or writing text on a website. These chatbots can summarize articles or web pages, write social media posts, or provide you with tips in the idea generation process.

Opera introduced Opera One as a redesigned version last month. The company states that Opera One is “ready for a generative artificial intelligence-based future”.

In a blog post, Opera said, “We are introducing a browser AI that allows you to interact directly with artificial intelligence within the browser. Aria in its current form marks the first phase of the project with a chat interface that communicates directly with the user. This AI-based service will become more integrated in future versions of the browser, naturally integrating into the browser to help you perform different browser tasks.”

The new sidebar bears similarities to features offered in Microsoft’s Edge browser. In March, Microsoft announced that it would add the Bing AI chatbot in the sidebar of the Edge web browser. Of course, Opera and Microsoft are not the only companies focusing on integrating AI-supported tools into their browsers. Brave offered summarization features in its search engine earlier this year and is testing AI-focused features for its browsers.

As can be inferred from this article, search engines are racing to adapt to artificial intelligence. It is clear that whoever leads this race will gain a significant advantage. This change observed in every medium is a big step towards our AI-compatible life.