The trick to understanding Opera’s Neon browser is to recognize that it is not just a browser with one AI bot, but a browser with three AI bots living together. This is both a strength and a weakness, because although you don’t have to go all out to do all the AI things you want, knowing where to go for AI tasks can be really confusing.
Opera last month began removing people from the waiting list for its AI browser, Neon. It’s entering an increasingly crowded market of AI-powered browsers, including Google’s Gemini-infused Chrome, Perplexity’s Comet, and The Browser Company’s Dia. Unlike many of these competitors, Opera is charging $19.90 per month, which sets a high bar for a product most people get for free.
Neon’s setup is similar to other Opera browsers. It has features like a built-in ad blocker and VPN, and a sidebar that you can operate with apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. AI features are placed front and center on the home and new tab screens. Below the search bar is a toggle with four settings: a regular Internet search; a chatbot called Chat; an agentive browser-control agent called Do; and an AI building agent called Make. (Opera says Neon is built on an AI model OpenAI and GoogleBut it doesn’t specify which model is used for which part of the Neon.)
Chat is the most straightforward feature, an AI assistant built into the browser that will probably be familiar to users of any AI chatbot by now. It can be accessed at the beginning of a search query, but it also resides in the upper-right corner of the browser for access at any time. The chat easily handled our quick research queries and could answer specific questions about the page we were browsing, such as our request for a summary on the latest research in quantum computing. But this was not right. The chat answers were so verbose that it felt like we’d actually have to work to solve them. When we asked the chat to tally and summarize the five most recent comments the verge Stories, it replied in about 400 words and told us there were no stories.
It was this exercise that showed us that Chat can’t always read the Internet, but it gave the impression that it absolutely can. The second time it was said there were 0 comments on three the verge Stories when there were actually four. We found it odd that the chat instead offered an idea of what “early comments on tech news sites” often involve.
Christian Colondra, Opera’s executive vice president for browsers, said the bot failed because we chose the wrong tool. Chat successfully noted the number of comments listed at the top the verge Article When Opera Tried It, Colondra said. However, summarizing comments requires expanding the comments section on the webpage, which requires a click. Instead, we should have sent our questions to AI Agent Do, a more active cousin of chat that takes control of the browser and completes the task for you.
We tried a variety of things: book a CrossFit class, book a massage at a nearby spa for under $50, and find a PDF of a baby romper sewing pattern. While Do was working, we couldn’t go back to the chat in the same window if we wanted to ask follow-up questions about the task. There is no way to course-correct when it is in action. We watched in horror as the bot scrolled through perfectly good flower arrangements we’d tasked it with finding for a friend, a monstrous funeral wreath to add to our basket, while we clicked on even better options. For the second time, Du announced that there were no theater tickets for the January show, when a cursory check showed plenty of tickets. It’s hard to trust anything after such unyielding but misplaced confidence.
Like other AI browsers, working with Do was slower than doing it yourself, though it did give a hint of what outsourcing the mundane mundane of web surfing might look like. And using Do doesn’t mean you can do a thorough investigation right now. Sometimes it faces obstacles that only a human can handle. When this happened, the Do tab at the top of the screen flashed an easily missed shade of red, letting us know we needed to step over and help the bot on its way.
In addition to Chat and Do, there’s also Make, an AI agent that can create small web tools for you. Make exists in a virtual computer where it downloads the software, scripts or, in our case, images needed for your creation without cluttering up your personal computer. We asked for a simple memory matching game with introductory Spanish vocabulary. It worked, and within minutes we were matching the word “Libro” to a picture of a book. The game was weird, but it was convenient to close the tab and know that all the pictures in the book disappeared with it.
The final selling point for Opera’s Neon is cards, effectively prewritten prompts that can be used on any AI agent, which Opera says act like “power-ups” for your AI interactions. In theory, cards could save us from writing a prompt, but at the moment, it’s hard to see why we need the option to reuse a set of instructions. The App Store-like interface is largely filled with the Neon team’s content, ranging from gimmicky prompts to rewriting sites as if Yoda gave more serious prompts for news aggregators. Opera’s hope is that the platform will fill up with useful user creations as more people use the platform, but there is little there today.
Sometimes, using Neon feels like working with a hapless intern rather than a sophisticated, time-saving technology we never asked for. Often, one of its AI systems asks for feedback, then starts taking action without waiting for a response. Given its ability to use the browser, it’s very easy to imagine where this proactivity could go wrong, such as sending too many LinkedIn requests to people you wanted to pursue anonymously in a professional capacity. Once there, we replied telling him everything looked great and to move on, and Neon said “I’m glad you think so!” And immediately stopped working. Colondra told us that Neon will pause for requested feedback in the future, but the feature is disabled because it’s not ready yet.
Colandra admitted that Neon is still a work in progress. “In general, Opera Neon is in the early access release phase, and has been made available to those who want to participate in the journey of developing this product,” Colondra explained. The Verge,
But Neon is also a paid subscription product, asking $20 a month for something that’s largely available for free elsewhere. Right now, it’s a tough sell – especially as Neon feels more like an AI browser that we need to adapt to than a browser that’s smart enough to adapt to us.
