The new Opera Neon browser is an attempt to integrate artificial intelligence into the daily browsing experience, but it offers three separate AI tools for a $20 monthly subscription. We review Neon’s features, and analyze why users feel confused and why it’s hard to justify its cost in a market crowded with free alternatives.
- Entering the world of AI browsers
- Opera Neon: Three bots in one browser
- Chat feature: The familiar and verbose assistant
- Do feature: The active and unreliable agent
- Make feature and Cards
- User experience: Confusion and immaturity
- Is the paid subscription worth it?
- FAQs
Entering the world of AI browsers
The world of web browsing is undergoing a major shift with the integration of artificial intelligence technologies, as companies race to deliver smarter and more productive experiences. Opera has entered this race with its new browser “Neon,” which began rolling out to users last month. Neon enters an increasingly crowded market featuring AI-powered browsers like Chrome with Google’s Gemini, Perplexity’s Comet, and The Browser Company’s Dia. But unlike many competitors, Opera is charging $19.90 a month to use Neon, raising expectations for a product most people get for free.
Opera Neon: Three bots in one browser
The challenge in understanding Opera Neon lies in realizing that it’s not just a browser with a single AI bot added to it, but rather a browser featuring three artificial intelligence bots living side by side. This represents both a strength and a weakness; while you don’t have to leave the browser to perform all the AI tasks you want, knowing where to go for any given task can be extremely confusing.
Neon retains familiar Opera browser features, such as the built-in ad blocker and VPN, but puts AI features front and center. Below the search bar, there is a toggle switch with four settings: regular internet search, a chat bot called “Chat,” a browser-controlling agent called “Do,” and an AI tool-building agent called “Make.” (Opera says Neon is built on models from OpenAI and Google).
Chat feature: The familiar and verbose assistant
The Chat feature is the most straightforward, serving as an in-browser AI assistant similar to any other chat bot. It can handle quick search queries and answer specific questions about the page you are browsing. However, the experience wasn’t flawless. Chat’s answers are often so verbose that they require real effort to read. When asked to count and summarize comments from five recent stories, it answered with about 400 words to tell us there were none.
Even more concerningly, Chat gives the impression that it can read the internet accurately, but in reality, it cannot always do so. Sometimes it misreads data and provides guesses instead of facts.
Do feature: The active and unreliable agent
The Do feature is an AI agent that takes control of the browser and executes tasks on your behalf, such as booking an appointment or finding products online. The idea is promising, but the execution is frustrating. Using Do is slower than doing the tasks yourself, and it cannot be fully trusted.
While Do is working, you cannot correct its course. In some tests, the bot made wrong decisions with excessive confidence, such as adding the wrong product to a shopping cart or declaring tickets unavailable when they actually were. It is hard to trust something that displays such misplaced overconfidence. It also occasionally requires human intervention to get past obstacles.
Make feature and Cards
There is also the “Make” AI agent, which can create small web tools for you. Make operates in a virtual environment without cluttering your personal computer. For example, you can ask for a simple memory-matching game, and Make will create it within minutes.
Neon’s final selling point is “Cards,” which are pre-written prompts that can be used on any of the AI agents. Theoretically, cards could save time, but right now, the app store-like interface is filled with demo content from the Neon team.
User experience: Confusion and immaturity
Sometimes, using Neon feels more like working with an incompetent intern you didn’t ask for rather than a sophisticated, time-saving piece of technology. Its AI systems often ask for feedback, then start a task without waiting for a reply. Krystian Kolondra, EVP of Browsers at Opera, acknowledged that Neon is still under development and in an early access phase, available for people who want to participate in this product’s development journey.
Is the paid subscription worth it?
But Neon is also a paid subscription product, asking for $20 a month for something largely available for free elsewhere. Right now, this is a tough sell, especially since Neon feels like an AI browser we need to adapt to rather than a browser smart enough to adapt to us.
FAQs
What is the Opera Neon browser?
It is a new browser from Opera that integrates three main AI tools (Chat, Do, Make) to provide a smart browsing experience, but it requires a paid subscription.
What is the main problem with Opera Neon?
The main problem is the confusion caused by having three separate AI tools, in addition to the unreliability of certain features (especially Do) and the difficulty of justifying its $20 monthly cost.
Are AI browsers ready for daily use?
Based on the Neon experience, AI browsers are still in their early stages, often immature and requiring the user to adapt to their limitations rather than offering a seamless and reliable experience.
