Building AI the Firefox way: Shaping what’s next together

[Jolie]

Hi everyone,

We recently shared how we’re approaching AI in Firefox with user choice and openness at the center of everything we build. We’ve heard from many of you who’d prefer not to have AI in your browser at all, and we get it: We will soon provide additional settings for you to control how AI is used (or not) in Firefox.

Nonetheless, standing still while technology moves forward doesn’t benefit the web or the people who use it. That’s why we see it as our responsibility to shape how AI integrates into the web, in ways that promote openness, transparency, and choice. That way, users and developers can use it freely, help shape it, and truly benefit from it.

You’ve already seen this approach in some of our latest features:
💬 AI Chatbot in the sidebar – Access your preferred chat assistant without switching tabs.
📱 Shake to Summarize on iOS – Quickly summarize pages and stay focused on what matters.

Now we’re working on something new, and we’d love your input.

What is AI Window?

AI Window is an intelligent space we’re building that lets you chat with an AI assistant and get help while you browse, all on your terms.

✅ Completely opt-in: You decide if and when to use it.
🔄 Model flexibility: Pick the AI model that best fits your needs.
⚙️ Full control: Easily toggle it on or off anytime.

Help us shape the future

We’re still early in development and want your feedback. Starting today, you can sign up to receive updates.

[KelsonV]

In case you haven't noticed by now, the people who want to use something like Firefox are, generally speaking, not the people who want to have AI built into their browser in its current slop-generating, plagiarism/spam engine form. (As compared to, say, local language translation.)

And the people who do want this kind of AI built into their browsers are not going to check out Firefox because of it.

Have you ever watched a late season of a TV series whose producers decided to "retool" it to get new viewers in? Have you ever seen it work? Because what usually happens is it's different enough that the existing audience leaves, but it still doesn't bring in a new audience.

[Rootsyl]

I dont want this, i dont want 90% of whats there in firefox. All i want is a working browser that can use any extension made properly.  

[lucidglitch]

I simply don’t want any AI in my internet browser, period. I don’t care if it’s just a trend or where tech is going, I don’t care if it’s good or bad for humanity. I do not want it. As somebody who uses your browser (and proudly tells friends to switch from chrome or edge for a variety of reasons), I think what I want should be a priority for the direction of your product. I have to wonder what the top-down decision-making is here; are there executives or board members with a vested interest in AI proliferating through the industry, or is there an anxiety about being left in the dust after so many other companies adopt the tech? 

again, I basically don’t care about those last questions, I just don’t want even the option to use it in Firefox. Please listen to your users and completely remove it.

[Jobra]

We don't need AI. We didn't ask for AI. Yet these companies keep on thinking they know what we want. We. Do. Not. Want. AI. 

[elzar]

Well, it was a good run. Shame to see Firefox die out and the entire web being under the control of Google.

[watersofmarch]

Hello, I find the AI features superfluous. What makes Firefox stand out from the chromium options is it's speed and functionality.

[JJ17]

If you stick AI into Firefox, I will switch to another browser without a second thought.

[aeiron]

Ai is not even on the list of features I (and probably most others) want in a browser. Please don't chase trends. Let this one die out and continue increasing performance and compatiblity while improving UI/UX.

[ImTheShadowMan]

We do NOT want anymore AI integrated into our software. The few people remaining that still use this browser choose to do so due to privacy, supporting competition and AVOIDING AI. You're going to push your base onto another web browser if you keep this up. 

And to make matters worse, you used AI to write this article.

[strb]

Read the room. Nobody wants this crap.

[fournm]

Add a top level opt out to all of this garbage. To a prominent settings page. That gets respected everywhere, across every bit of this garbage that you add. I would respect Mozilla's position so much more if you actually presented and respected user choice in regards to your "opt-in" crap here, instead of every new version adding more, enabled by default, regularly re-enabling things that have been previously disabled!

I do not want this, I do not think Mozilla is furthering its own goals meaningfully in any way, and I do think it is actively going against its stated values.

[ARWRQWRQWRQWR]

create a new app or site.. dont bloat the browser. there's enough ai in this world.

[fool]

It's clearly not end users, so I have to wonder: for whose sake is Mozilla investing all this effort into AI features?

[albertjohn3038]

Thank you!  Please work on this feature and keep it free. But ensure the models are lightweight and local.

[Sera]

Literally no one wants this. The people who are enthusiastic about AI are not the ones using Firefox, they are happy to stick with Chrome and the like anyway. 

Stop chasing nonsensical trends that offer zero actual improvement to the user experience. All year we had to hear about funding worries, but you have money to waste on this? No thanks. Please invest that into things your userbase actually wants, not this garbage. You already offer direct access to AI for the addicts, no need to expand on that.

[mrvalane]

I do not want generative AI in any capacity, because it holds no value. 

Chasing this, especially now given AI's clear bubble almost at a breaking point (the US wont even release HOW bad the unemployement numbers are), will just lead to firefox being too late to the race whilst pissing off its userbase, which will probably bankrupt the company. It'd be a shame to see that happen, so I would prefer to see firefox moves its attention towards blocking gen ai content instead. Because a browser that could offer protections from gen AI would be very attractive product. 

[GumboSamson]

This sounds fantastic.  I know I’d use it.  That being said, please make it opt-in rather than opt-out—there are a lot of people who don’t trust AI and won’t hesitate to leave your platform if they worry their privacy is compromised.  (Trust is built over years, but it only takes an instant to break it.)

[AmonG]

im tired boss... 🫩

[skubenjoyer]

**bleep** off with this nonsense 

[hazeltheamazel]

Please recognize the opportunity cost of wasting time with features no one here wants. You are neglecting the real offering of Firefox (something different from the rest) as you chase a fad.

AI is a poison to the quality of content on the internet, a poison to the creator economy, and a poison to the planet.

[SoftPup]

The number one feature that separates Firefox from Chrome is uBlock Origin. I want a fast browser that respects my privacy. There is no conceivable universe where I want an AI chatbot embedded into my browser. How can Firefox even feel secure when you are forcing (about:config does not count) features that send everything we do to some server god knows where?

[sarna]

Please stop this nonsense. Using Firefox is already annoying because a lot of devs only test on Chrome-based browsers. If you keep shoving more of that garbage into Firefox, I'll just stop using it altogether.

[BuzzMail]

We do not want AI built into the browser. If you want AI features, make them an optional set of extensions people can install.

I get it, it's a new hot feature that is driving a lot of users to use certain products, and Mozilla wants more people to use theirs. However, this alienates your core user base. I specifically don't donate to Mozilla anymore, because all of these new AI features feel like a waste of any money I'd donate.

If I donate money it's because I expect my browser to get better, not more bloated, slow, and filled with AI that's notoriously unreliable and bad for the environment.

Improve the bookmark manager, make the setup experience easier for new users, reduce sponsor bloat, give us easier to access settings to enable and disable browser features! Anything but this. build out features that will make the experience better for everyone, not just the people who want to use AI and trust it in their browser.

All these "opt-in" features aren't opt-in if they use up more space on my disk, pop up in front of me at random, re-enable after updates, and fill in more and more settings menus and dialogues with buttons to activate them.

Make this an extension, don't make AI the focus of all your development, and please, just listen to your own users.

[violetusername]

Let me be extremely god **bleep** clear: I do not want any AI functions or integration in any part of any technology. AI fundamentally cannot be trusted or held accountable, it is built upon mountains of stolen human labor, and even just from a financial point of view, it is going to bleed you dry. 

[miguelm]

Please stop chasing slop. Release as a separate extension from the browser itself.

[arialdomartini]

Mozilla has a very special talent in disappointing its user base. The few users still loyal with you are asking NOT to pursue with AI. So, why you are trying so much to fail is beyond my comprehension.

I’m done, you can count me out.

[DerMrc42]

Please do not do this. All we want is a nice fast browser which does not get in the way. AI is the very definition of getting in the way and adding extra steps, not to mention the huge waste of energy to accomplish nothing. Please don't force me to download a fork which ripped this stuff out

[ThomasWilburn]

Why isn't this being built as an extension?

Firefox remains the browser with the most powerful, full-featured WebExtension API, which is why it still supports real ad-blocking code. This should be a selling point. Building these AI features as extensions would A) mean that users have a choice to opt into them explicitly, and B) Mozilla could dogfood the API to find places where it's not able to perform for "agent" use cases, if they exist, and prototype new features for standardization. You could offer a version of the browser with the extension pre-installed as the "AI browser" version of Firefox. Everybody wins in this scenario, even people who don't want AI around, because the browser-as-a-platform is getting better too.

I suspect Mozilla would not constantly find itself in cases where there are (checks counter) 259 angry replies on a feature thread if these things were being developed as extensions and not being directly integrated, especially as it is not obvious to anyone why LLM features that do not run locally _need_ to be written into the browser code itself.

[bluwish]

I don't want AI slop and other related slop features in my browser used specifically just for surfing the internet. I'd rather migrate to another browser than deal with this bloatware.

[rlx]

Being based in Silicon Valley, it might appear normal that the world is turning around AI and everybody think they need to incluse AI in their products.

I do not live in the Valley but I am a long time user of Firefox. Please note, I do not want AI windows or other AI features burned in my browser. If you think you need to develop AI tools for Firefox why don't you just develop an optional AddOn?

I use Firefox because it is robust, simple and less data hungry as its competitors.
Just focus on that: Make your browser robust, secure, open, slim - and protext our data.
Not more, not less. 

[Edens-Fall]

For the love of God! Don't do it! We will all end up living in a van down by the river!

[Rapphero]

If you add AI im literally changing to Brave...

[alxndr]

Mozilla, please stop wasting time and money on "AI" bull**bleep**.

A secure and privacy-protecting web browser. That's all we need.

[RyuHimora]

I just want a modern browser that lets me interact with Chrome and it's accursed children as little as possible. You're not 'standing still' by refusing to let LLMs be integrated into the software, you're providing a service being cried for by millions upon millions of people. In this world where Firefox is the only legacy web browser left that uses it's own rendering engine and is actually secure and decent to use, the gold mine you're sitting on isn't chasing tech trends, it's being a safe haven for the people who will come running when every other option has turned to **bleep**.

[patrizia]

I don't want AI in Firefox. If you are hell-bent on spending developer time on AI, make it a plugin, so that users can choose whether to have it or not (and crucially, that they must opt-in).

Your proposed benefits are incredibly vague - "help you while you browse" could be applied to pretty much any function - making your comments about needing to move forward seem like you're just trying to keep up with other browsers that are including AI, rather than having an inherent reason for doing so.

Please integrate something like the consent-o-matic plugin, which would genuinely help people and protect their privacy, rather than pushing AI on us, and would be considerably easier to do. Or perhaps you could work on tools to make porting code from only supporting Chromium to supporting your own browser, easing the burden on web developers?

I am disappointed that this is how Firefox is ending up.

[Astrateau]

nobody wants AI. 

[GermanDev]

Just logged in to say: No! Please no further AI features. I do not need AI and I sure do not want to catch up the latest "AI browser settings" again and again to turn them off. I just want a working, high performant, spyware free browser for work and private surfing.

[Emaro]

I'm not eager for new AI features in Firefox, BUT if you're building them, your approach sounds reasonable (opt-in, full control, etc). I'd like a focus on small local models, like you're already doing for the tab grouping suggestions.

[Amitor]

We do not want it! It works great as is, faat and reliable. Do NOT add ai slop to the browser.

[Yippie]

So you reinvented the ChatGPT browser tab. What a complete and utter waste of dev resources