Opera Browser Gets Its Own ChatGPT-Powered AI Sidebar App
Microsoft is not the only player in the game integrating generative AI into web browsers. Opera has announced that its eponymous web browser now has its own chatty AI companion called Aria. This isn't Opera's first foray in the segment, as the company also added a sidebar in the browser dedicated to OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Aria will roll out in over 180 countries and can already be tested in its beta version within the Opera One browser for both Android and desktop. However, you will need to sign up with an Opera account to access it.
Just like the early days of Bing Chat and Google Bard, the browser will add your Opera account on the waitlist, and only after approval will you be able to access the Aria AI from the browser's sidebar. The company says it plans deeper integration for the GPT-fueled AI in its browser, with the eventual goal of native blending to such an extent that it allows users to "perform cross-browser tasks."
Smarter capabilities, better accessibility
One of the biggest advantages of Aria over ChatGPT — at least, for now — is that it's already connected to the web and can pull up-to-date results and current information. ChatGPT, on the other hand, will only surface information as recent as 2021, because that's how far back its date range goes. Plus, it doesn't offer the web browsing facility to all users, just yet.
It was in May that Microsoft announced Bing as the default search engine service for ChatGPT. The web browsing facility itself is enabled through a dedicated plug-in that is currently available only to ChatGPT Plus users, a subscription service that costs $20 per month for personal use. It is yet to be enabled for free users, but there are plans to do so down the road.
Aria, on the other hand, is being marketed as an internet-connected "free service with up-to-date information" that allows users to pull fresh results from the web. In addition to web browsing, Aria is also capable of the usual generative AI capabilities such as helping write code, find product listings, and provide summarized answers. Plus, Aria has been natively trained on all of Opera's support documents, which means it can pull up the relevant help page for all browser-related queries.