# Opera launches WebAI, a local AI API for websites and extensions

published: 2026-10-28T09:05:43.293Z
topic: infrastructure
source: https://www.producthunt.com/products/opera
url: https://aiagentnews.io/stories/opera-launches-webai-a-local-ai-api-for-websites-and-extensions

Opera has launched WebAI, which lets websites and browser extensions use AI models running on the user's own computer. Developers get three APIs for text generation, classification and finding related content, in an opt-in early preview in Opera One.

WebAI lets pages and extensions call AI models that run locally in the browser, so page content does not have to be sent to a cloud AI service. Opera built the inference engine into the browser itself, and the launch is listed as free.

The three APIs cover text generation, classification and finding related content. Opera has also published six example extensions, including one that quizzes readers on an article and another that highlights paragraphs relevant to a project.

WebAI is an opt-in early preview in Opera One. It supports local models including Gemma, and Apple's on-device foundation model on Macs.

## Why it matters if you build agents

Developers building agents in the browser can run text generation, classification and related-content lookups on the user's machine instead of calling a hosted model for each step. Because WebAI is an early preview limited to Opera One, it cannot yet be counted on across other browsers. Check which local models are present on a user's device before depending on one.