Norway-based browser company Opera is introducing its free Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant, Aria, to Opera Mini, its popular Android browser with over 100 million users globally.
Aria AI is designed to assist users in accessing the latest news and information on a variety of topics, gaining knowledge on different subjects, and generating images. Opera leverages models from OpenAI and Google to deliver relevant answers, summarisation, and image generation directly within the browser at no extra cost.
Interest in AI solutions
Jørgen Arnesen, executive vice president of mobile at Opera, highlighted the growing importance of AI in the daily internet experience.
“We’re observing a significant interest in AI solutions among South Africans, so introducing Aria to Opera Mini is a logical extension of our most popular browser. By incorporating our in-built AI, Aria, we are eager to explore how AI can further enhance the feature set that our South African users rely on every day.”
Opera Mini is renowned for its unique features, ranging from live football scores to the integrated digital wallet MiniPay.
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Data saving
Since its launch in 2005, Opera Mini has been helping users save on data usage while browsing.
The company claims that despite the introduction of the new AI assistant, it can continue to save data without increasing the app’s size.
“Aria is designed for minimal data consumption and is included in Opera’s free daily data bundles in South Africa – making it an ideal solution for the 69% of South Africans who would utilize AI tools if they didn’t impact data usage.”
Integration
Aria browser AI seamlessly integrates into Opera’s browsers on desktop and mobile, providing users with an accessible chat-based interface with AI.
Opera Mini has surpassed 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store, with users opting for it over the pre-installed browsers on Android devices. According to data from app analytics firm Appfigures, Opera Mini has garnered 7.1 million downloads worldwide this year.
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