Opera's browser adds AI-powered image generation and better multimedia controls

Opera said today it is releasing Opera One’s second version in developer beta with features such as new multimedia controls, split tabs, and new AI capabilities.

The company is introducing new themes and design elements to give Opera One R2 a fresh look.

Opera has traditionally placed the multimedia controls on the sidebar. But with the new version, the controls can be on their own floating window, just like the picture-in-picture video module. Opera said it has made sure that the resizable floating controls will match the browser’s theme that you have set. Depending on the size, the multimedia player will have controls like play/pause, next, previous, pop-out, and volume options.

The Opera One R2 also brings new tab controls with the marquee feature of a split tab window, so you can work on two web pages at the same time. Some newer browsers, such as Arc and SigmaOS have baked this functionality well into their products.

The redesigned version adds a new indicator in the form of an underscore to highlight a recently closed tab. These indicators, called traces, will be light or dark based on the time passed since you closed the tab. It will appear for people who have more than 30 tabs open.

AI features

Opera has been experimenting with AI features such as a sidebar with its “Aria” assistant, AI-powered summarization, and letting people use large language models (LLMs) locally.

The company had rolled out some features with Aria such as image and voice generation and image understanding capabilities through its experimental AI features program. These features will be baked into Opera One R2.

With the new version, Opera is bringing a page context mode, which allows users to ask Aria questions about a web page, including finding, translating or summarizing a particular bit of information.

Opera plans to release the Opera One R2 to a wider user base later this year.