As the generative AI space continues to grow and expand as behemoth companies including Google and Microsoft have begun integrating AI language models into their respective search engines.
Opera is the newest company to join the list after announcing the upcoming integration of AI-generated content (AIGC) services into its PC and mobile browsers. The company is taking bold steps towards expanding its existing AI program into AIGC for its browser, news and gaming products through its own solutions and partnerships.
Song Lin, Co-CEO of Opera commented, “In more than 25 years of our company’s history, we have always been at the forefront of browser innovation. Whether inventing browser tabs or providing our users with built-in access to generative AI tools, we always push the limits of what’s possible on the web. Following the mass interest in generative AI tools, we believe it’s now time for browsers to step up and become the gateway to an AI-powered web.”
The rise of artificial intelligence
Generative AI has been on the rise ever since OpenAI launched its flagship AI language model ChatGPT which recently amassed 100 million users. Opera’s upcoming AI Integration follows the company’s history of giving users direct access to some of the internet’s most in-demand platforms including Telegram, WhatsApp and TikTok.
“We see the rise of Generative Intelligence as the beginning of a new future in which consumer app developers like Opera will be able to build experiences on top of AI-based platforms. We are excited to see the rapid roll-out of developer programs for solutions such as Google Bard, for example, and are starting to build and roll out new experiences in web browsing that not very long ago seemed impossible to achieve,” added Per Wetterdal, Head of Strategic Partnerships and AI ecosystem.
The company is aiming to integrate a popular AI-generated content service into its browser’s sidebar. In addition, it’s also working on augmenting the browsing experience with new features that will interact with new generative AI-powered capabilities. There’s competition in the browser space as Microsoft recently announced its Bing update which brings AI tools to the search engine.
A new era
“It is Opera’s belief that with AI solutions springing up both for text, image, and audio generation and in countless other forms, we are at the brink of a new era of creativity on the Web. That’s why we’re reshaping the browser to allow our users to tap into all these resources and to unfold their full potential in the best possible way,” said Krystian Kolondra, EVP of PC Browsers and Gaming at Opera.
One of the first features that the company has tested is a new “Shorten” button in the address bar that will allow users to generate short summaries of any webpage or article using AI.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.