(Credit: Opera)
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The next big agentic web browser is here. Joining the likes of Perplexity’s Comet and The Browser Company’s Dia, Opera’s newest release is built to focus on AI tools.
The Opera Neon browser was first revealed in May, but it is now available for those who first joined the waiting list. Not everyone can download it yet; Opera says it will be adding more people from its waiting list at a later date.
Neon is an AI-centric web browser featuring a chatbot window. The more agentic tools include Neon Do, which allows you to provide it with a task through a prompt; the browser can then open sources for you. For example, you can ask it to search NASA flyby missions, and it’ll open up the most relevant sources into tabs. This example, shown by Opera, features Neon opening five web pages into a tab grouping, allowing you to read about each individual mission.
You can also give Neon tasks to complete, "such as shopping, booking, gathering information from your Task, or even applying for a job directly.”
The assistant will adapt to changes it finds when undertaking the task, and you’ll be able to watch it all happen live on your screen. There are then options to take over the controls if you don’t like what Neon Do is doing.
For repeated actions, Opera has a new feature called Cards. They're designed for you to do similar tasks each time without having to read the same prompt multiple times. You can create your own cards or download others from the community. One example given by Opera is called Weekly Dinner Planning. The task can be run weekly, and it will then "Plan 5 dinners, auto-generate a grocery list, and flag pantry overlaps."
There’s also a feature called Neon Make, designed to automatically build and employ AI agents for more complicated actions. Opera also confirmed it is bringing over the highlights of its traditional browser to this tool, including its bookmarking features, VPN integration, and more.
You’ll need to join the waitlist to use Neon, which costs $19.90 a month.
Opera has used the Neon name before for a concept browser back in 2017. That version never saw a full release, and it was before the push for AI-focused tools. At the time, PCMag found it to be “a radical rethink of the web browser, with a unique interface and some clever tools.”