Opera Wants You To Pay $19.90 a Month for Its New AI Browser (bleepingcomputer.com)
- Reference: 0179658126
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/10/05/026207/opera-wants-you-to-pay-1990-a-month-for-its-new-ai-browser
- Source link: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/artificial-intelligence/opera-wants-you-to-pay-1990-per-month-for-its-new-ai-browser/
Or, [2]as BleepingComputer describes it , Opera Neon "is a new browser that puts AI in control of your tabs and browsing activities, but it'll cost $19.90 per month."
> It'll do tasks for you, open websites for you, manage tabs for you, and listen to you. The idea behind these agentic browsers is to put AI in control. "Neon acts at your command, opening tabs, conducting research, finding the best prices, assessing security, whatever you need. It delivers outcomes you can use, share, and build on," [3]Opera noted ...
>
> As [4]spotted on X, Opera Neon, the premium AI browser for Windows & macOS, costs $59.90 for nine months. Opera neon invite. This is an early bird offer, but when the offer expires, Opera Neon will cost $19.90 per month.
The [5]browser's web page says Opera Neon "can handle everyday tasks for you, like filling in forms, placing orders, replying to emails, or tidying up files. Reusable cards turn repeated chores into single-step tasks, letting you focus on the work that matters most to you."
Opera describes itself as "the company that gave you tabs..."
[1] https://youtu.be/D4rar2bmCAM
[2] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/artificial-intelligence/opera-wants-you-to-pay-1990-per-month-for-its-new-ai-browser/
[3] https://www.operaneon.com/
[4] https://x.com/testingcatalog/status/1974082612127019405/photo/2
[5] https://www.operaneon.com/
Oops (Score:1)
I guess they forgot to do a market analysis and cost vs expense report before even developing this AI product. OOPS. I guess they got caught up in the nonstop greed and "AI make number go up" stock price and private investment flood.
Opera browser sold for $600m in Feb 2025 (Score:5, Informative)
In case you haven't heard, the browser was sold: The original owner probably wouldn't have done this.
'Opera Sells Browser Business to a Chinese Tech Group for $600 Million In a move that has sent shockwaves through the tech industry, Opera Software, the Norwegian company best known for its web browser, announced the sale of its browser business to a Chinese tech conglomerate for an astounding $600 million.'
Re: (Score:2)
Which is a shame. Opera was a nice free alternative that seemed relatively safe.
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> In case you haven't heard, the browser was sold: The original owner probably wouldn't have done this.
> 'Opera Sells Browser Business to a Chinese Tech Group for $600 Million In a move that has sent shockwaves through the tech industry, Opera Software, the Norwegian company best known for its web browser, announced the sale of its browser business to a Chinese tech conglomerate for an astounding $600 million.'
Opera has been Chinese owned for quite a long time now.
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Thanks. I'm an avid Opera user. Looks like it's time to move on.
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> '... In a move that has sent shockwaves through the tech industry, ...
Hahaha it's great to see that some writers haven't lost their sense of humor!
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Opera was sold in 2016. You'v been sleeping quite a while.
A Bargain at Half the Price (Score:4, Funny)
On first glance I read this as, "Opera Want to Pay You $19.90 a Month to Use Its New AI Browser" and thought, "What's the catch?"
Oh my, they actually expect people to pay $19.90/month for an AI-slopified browser. No thank you.
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how many Chinese people will pay $20USD a month for a web browser?
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How many Chinese people will be allowed to use it, rather than whatever spyware the Chinese government mandates for them?
Or, to actually answer you question, "however many the Chinese government tells to."
Re: A Bargain at Half the Price (Score:2)
Russians and Chinese are once again allies, so likely no rubles involved. Beaides, there's plenty of good ole 'Merkin racism out there for free.
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The Tsar picked off a lot of land from China, back when Russia could. Russia is getting weaker, so the Chinese may still smile with Russia in the press, but don't think they'll smile when backs are turned. As I understand it, there seems to be a lot of minable resources in Siberia. Siberia is geographically closer to China than Moscow. And Siberia has really crap infrastructure, if there even is any form of infrastructure, which 90%.of the time not the case. East Russia and Mongolia, that area used to be ca
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Found the paid agent of the Chinese government. Got the yuan rolling in.
Opera used to be a paid browser (Score:2)
Way back in internet history, bringing back the paid feature shows the link between the original internet bubble to the current one, but with an AI new hat.
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I paid for it back in the day, I think it was $50 in 1998.
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Yes, I paid that also ( OPERA_4 ?) which they admitted was a "Beta" , but promissed when V_1.0 was released we would get it free. Then they demanded payment for V_1.0 f*cking paying-usrs in butt. OPERA does indeed have that history.
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I watched the video, there was no demonstration of product, no alignment with how I worked or how I used a browser, how anyone else uses a browser or why anyone would want what they are selling. It's not even clear what there is.
You know, it is the browser itself that stole our attention. Adding AI to it would clearly NOT be the solution. Hope their reward is based on merit.
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> I watched the video, there was no demonstration of product, no alignment with how I worked or how I used a browser, how anyone else uses a browser or why anyone would want what they are selling. It's not even clear what there is .
There is no "there" there.
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> shows the link between the original internet bubble to the current one
I think it shows that Opera browser was sold to a company that is now trying to milk profits out of it. There's no reason to pay for this.
No (Score:2)
I wouldn't use any of Opera's garbage even if they paid me $19.90/mo.
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i used opera for a good while years ago and i both loved it and hated it. it brought up very interesting features and stupid ideas alike, and its engineering was a bit hit and miss, very effcient but glitchy. that said, at least they were original and doing something different, competition is good. i'm no longer interested, but i wouldn't say it is garbage.
regarding this ai thing, this mass hysteria of integrating ai into everything, specifically the browser, is just dumb. ai is just too rapidly evolving an
Oh, Opera. Sweet echo of forgotten joy. (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, I do remember. There was a time when web standards were under heavy development, adding the then-novelty of CSS around 1998.
The browsers at the time, Netscape and Internet Explorer, were absolute crap in terms of following the rapidly evolving standards. Norwegian inventor of CSS, Håkon Wium Lie, joined Opera in 1999, because he saw (wikipedia) "Opera programmers make more progress on implementing CSS in three months than what Netscape and Microsoft had achieved in three years."
I tried now to find my original purchase of Opera among old e-mails, but no. I found upgrade purchases going back to 2000, the oldest being 5.0 for Linux. I think I started using it as my primary browser around 1997 or so, with 2.1 and then 3.6 being legendary releases, using it as the primary until they switched to WebKit/Chromium about 2013. They were incredibly innovative, inventing many of the features we take for granted today. Opera was ridiculously fast compared to the others, and absolutely had the best rendering engine with the best standards support, obviously. It has taken many turns and being sold more than once since that.
I want a pony (Score:2)
As soon as Opera buys me a pony, I will subscribe to their browser!
Hahahahaha, no (Score:2)
Opera used to be good. Not anymore. Vivaldi is a good replacement though and free. They make their money via the default search engine and some other defaults and these are easy to change.
The buzzword of the day is... (Score:2)
...agents!
The hypemongers and pundits claim that the tech is amazing and ready today
Skeptics aren't impressed
As real progress slows, the hypemongers need a new, shiny thing to distract clueless people and investors
Real progress is being made, and it's possible that some sort of future agent might be useful, but I wouldn't trust today's work-in-progress agents to "put AI in control"
but will it... (Score:2)
but will it stop all ads, popups, including those location, newsletters, cookies and other notifications some websites force on you, it will not be worth it.
Opera no more (Score:2)
Used it for years, then a version came along with no place for my personal home page. Bye Bye and off to Vivaldi.
Misread (Score:2)
I misread the headline as Opera wants to PAY ME $19.90/month to use their browser. I was mildly interested.
Then I see they want me to PAY THEM $19.90/month to use their browser. My reaction changed to "hahahahahahahhaahhahahaahhaahahahahahhahahah!"
That is all.
By the rich, for the rich? (Score:2)
Every day folk will likely have no real use for this, let alone have the funds to justify its cost.
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Not even "rich", just "more money than sense". Even someone on minimum wage could put aside 75c/day for this kind of subscription. However, as inflation continues to spiral and jobs dry up, the number of people willing to spend money because "wow that sounds cool" will decline.
I remember when Opera was a browser (Score:2)
Instead of an AI slopped on top of a Chromium skin.
Make it make sense (Score:2)
A sentient browser seems like a solution looking for a problem and if this isn't another indicator that the AI bubble is about to burst, then I don't know what is!
Lies (Score:2)
Opera the company ceased to exist many years ago when it was bought by the Chinese. So, no, they did not give you tabs. If you want the team that gave you tabs, check out Vivaldi (also the team that created CSS). Vivaldi is a browser made by the people who made the original revolutionary Opera browser.
You can't give away for free what costs you money (Score:2)
If the browser uses an API that has costs, then the browser has to cost something. If it doesn't, the currency is data.
I pay for a browser that blocks anything AI (Score:2)
seriously, if a browser could filter out all AI images, videos, articles, comments, etc It would be worth some money.
That's a good thing (Score:4, Insightful)
It means the AI won't be forced on everyone.
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Remember, Opera is like Volvo now - A former Swedish company with the controlling stake owned by the Chinese Communist Party.
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Imagine how much better /. would be if this garbage were removed.
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If all the garbage were removed from the internet, all that would be left would be porn.
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> If all the garbage were removed from the internet, all that would be left would be porn.
And, to complete that thought: (from [1]Scrubs [wikipedia.org])
> Dr. Cox: "I'm fairly sure if they took porn off the internet, there'd only be one website left, and it'd be called Bring back the porn!"
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrubs_(TV_series)
Re: That's a good thing (Score:2)
> "Neon acts at your command, opening tabs, conducting research, finding the best prices, assessing security, whatever you need. It delivers outcomes you can use, share, and build on,"
If you trust the AI to do these things reliably then yes sure. Do you? Search is worse and worsening, thus requires human oversight. Same with finding the best prices. I don't know about security but i think it's safe to assume the worst. You get the idea.
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> Same with finding the best prices.
This isn't too hard, simply by tracking known websites (i.e. any major retalior, etc.)
> I don't know about security
AI falls for fake websites. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Pretty sure AI browsers would check email, see an important account issue from a scam email, and happily log into the scam website to resolve said issue.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPblVgtbzec
Re: That's a good thing (Score:2)
> This isn't too hard, simply by tracking known websites (i.e. any major retalior, etc.)
I don't think it's that simple. I use such comparators but there is an ever changing layer of complexity around hidden costs and savings. For example some shops ofger free shipping, others do not. These days my favourite price comparison engine does take it into account, but it wasn't always so, and there are other bad practices that come and go, like having a certain price only when using certain means of payment. Airlines have been particularly awful.
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There seem to be already images going around, which when parsed generate a prompt that asks your AI to send data (mail, passwords, accounts, bank accounts etc).
So if you have your cloud and/or local AI solution coupled via MCP to whatever, your AI will fulfill that request, automatically, at your user access level and without informing you in any way or form. Or, in the case of Opera Neon, simply via the browser itself.
Not specifically a dig at Opera Neon, all browsers with integrated AI will have this prob
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Currently I would not trust the thing. But a tech with that much research (scientific and companies building actual products) will manage to have a solution in a few years. And if it is a lot of duct tape. SQL is quite insecure, prepared statements are not. Prepare what can be inserted into your prompts and you're safer. From the science point of view that's no solution, from the industry's point of view that's how everything works.
If Photoshop uses an AI model for smart select, you can be pretty sure that
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It still will, just not by Opera.