Opera lets websites run AI directly on your own computer

Opera's browser can now let websites and extensions use AI models that run on your own computer. The feature is called WebAI and has launched as an early preview, meaning an early and experimental version. It requires no cloud service, account or API key (a kind of password that developers normally need to talk to an AI service).

How to turn it on

WebAI is opt-in, so you have to enable it yourself under Settings > Opera AI > "Enable Web AI API." The model is downloaded automatically, but only after your explicit permission. The feature is free and requires no subscription.

The preview runs on 64-bit Windows PCs with Intel or AMD and on Macs with Apple Silicon. Intel Macs, Linux and Windows on Arm are not yet supported. Support in Opera GX and Opera Neon is planned, but no timeline has been given.

WebAI offers eight experimental APIs, meaning interfaces that developers can build on. Among them are Prompt, Summarizer and Translator. Six extensions are included from the start, including Project Lens, Got It? and Semantic Art.

The sources disagree about which models come bundled. According to DataNorth, Google's Gemma is supported on Windows and Mac, and Apple's own model on Macs with Apple Silicon. Tech Times writes that Opera's documentation does not mention a specific starting model.

Opera EVP Krystian Kolondra says: "A lot of what people want from AI doesn't need a data center. Your laptop can already do it."

Local is not the same as private

Text processing happens on the computer, but websites can still send results on to their own servers. The site owner also still has access to the page's content. Data may stay on the device, but not necessarily.

Tech Times points out that, according to the article, Opera Limited is majority-owned (68%) by Kunlun Tech in Beijing, and that China's National Intelligence Law can require Chinese organizations to cooperate with the authorities. According to the article, local processing prevents data from the AI use itself from passing through Opera's servers, but it does not cover other browser data such as history, bookmarks and VPN traffic. Tech Times also found no independent security audit of Opera's browser or WebAI.

A fight over the standard

Opera is positioning itself as an open alternative to Chrome's Prompt API, which according to Tech Times requires Google's Gemini Nano and acceptance of Google's generative AI prohibited use policy. Opera emphasizes that WebAI uses open models without any single vendor's terms of use.

According to DataNorth, Google and Microsoft support the proposal for a browser AI standard, while Apple and Mozilla are formally opposed. Since April 2024, Opera has offered access to local language models in the browser, and the selection has since grown to more than 2,000 model variants from over 60 families.