Norway-based Browser Company Opera Introduces AI Assistant Aria for Opera Mini Android Users
Opera, the Norway-based browser company, announced today that it is rolling out its AI assistant, Aria, for Opera Mini users on Android. This decision aims to provide users with low-end devices and data limitations access to advanced AI features.
Aria AI is designed to assist users in obtaining up-to-date news and information on various topics, expanding their knowledge on different subjects, and even generating images. Opera utilizes a combination of models from OpenAI and Google to deliver relevant answers to user queries.
Jørgen Arnesen, EVP Mobile at Opera, stated, “AI is quickly becoming an essential component of the daily internet experience. Introducing Aria to Opera Mini is a natural progression for our most popular browser. With the integration of our in-built AI, Aria, we are eager to explore how AI can further enrich the feature set that our users rely on daily.”
Since its launch in 2005, Opera Mini has been renowned for helping users save on data consumption during browsing sessions. Despite the introduction of the new AI assistant, the company assures that it will not inflate the app’s size and will still contribute to data savings for users.
Over the years, Opera has established partnerships with local telcos in Africa to provide free data to Opera Mini customers. However, the company faced challenges in Kenya last year when authorities restricted ads on bookmark tiles interfaces on browsers, leading to the suspension of the free data program in the country.
With over a billion downloads on Android and a user base exceeding 100 million worldwide, Opera Mini continues to be a popular choice among mobile users. Appfigures data reveals that Opera Mini has garnered 7.1 million downloads globally this year.
In addition to launching an AI assistant across its platforms, Opera has been exploring AI functionalities, including a feature that enables users to control tabs using natural language commands and an operator that autonomously assists in completing tasks.
