Aria, Opera browser's AI chatbot, gets image-understanding feature like Google Gemini

Opera moved from OpenAI's GPT tech to Google Gemini's models.

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Key notes

  • Opera introduces an image-understanding feature to its AI chatbot, Aria.
  • This feature can be accessed in the Developer stream of the browser via the sidebar chat.
  • It provides context for images, solves math or coding problems, and transforms doodles into realistic AI-generated images.

Opera is one of the most popular browsers around, especially for gamers with Opera GX. And now, Aria, its AI-powered chatbot, launched yet another AI capability. It gets an image-understanding feature, sort of like how it works on Google Gemini. 

Announced on Tuesday, Opera said that you can use this feature by downloading the Developer stream of the browser and opening the sidebar chat with Aria. Click the ‘+’ button just right of the chat input box and then you will find the ‘upload image’ option. You can upload up to 3 images at the same time and ask questions about them to Aria via text prompts.

In its demonstration, the image-understanding feature can provide context for images or explain them to you. It can also tackle problems such as math or coding challenges, and even transform a simple doodle into a highly realistic AI-generated image.

It sure does work like Google Gemini because Opera also announced that Gemini’s models now power the AI-powered tool. It’s an interesting bit of a shift because, when Aria first arrived last year, it used the Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s GPT technologies.

A lot of browsers have come forward to bring AI features. Microsoft Edge was the first to bring Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat. Then, Google Chrome came through with its Circle to Search feature on the desktop, which was once an Android-exclusive feature. The latter feature is so good that Microsoft is working on a carbon copy called Circle to Copilot for Edge