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.

[LotusPrince]

In a world where Internet AI is nothing but derivative trash, why the hell does every CEO decide that it's the cool new thing to pursue? Get this braindead slop off of your platform, and stop killing goodwill that you've built up for over a decade. Microsoft is finally backing off on Copilot because exactly zero people like it, so what in God's name made you think that tainting your browser with this embarrassing crap would be a good idea? The man's CEO for one day, and he's already proven to be a fool.

You know what's good for Firefox? Making sure that it works. Making sure that it isn't infected with the ever-eroding virus known as AI.

Stop being an imbecile. Fix your platform.

[danothy]

Mozilla Firefox has seen a bump in users ditching Google Chrome in the wake of AI's invasion and infestation.

Mozilla Firefox will see a drop in users ditching Mozilla Firefox in the wake of AI's invasion and infestation.

You serve me slop, I will address your slop by leaving. The choice is yours.

[poxlox]

I made an account just to post this as an almost life-long mozilla user. If you implement this, I am out. I will not use your garbage AI features, stop being a corporate buzzword shill and focus on creating a performant open-source browser with high levels of privacy. Who the **bleep** asked for AI tools when there's thousands of other companies with plenty. **bleep** the CEO **bleep** your direction and **bleep** your AI

[Roninbadger]

UGH. IF mozilla wants to AI then how about just making their own Ai app. dont ruin firefox forcing it on anyone.

OR If you want it in the browser then utilize the very accessible and very popular add-ons. Make all these "features" its own Mozilla Add-on. It will then track popularity with stars and downloads. AND if at some point in the near future you need to reverse course because to stifle attrition of your users you can stop support of the add-on. Because its voluntary, you will not lose your die hard fanbase who has stuck with Firefox for decades now. a fanbase that is the crux of your users. With the current opinions around forced Ai, in win11, one would think this move would be bad. 

[armadill0]

If Firefox will be heading into the direction of AI browsers I will be looking into an alternative browser. In the time of AI everywhere, Firefox distinguished itself with being one of the few AI free options. Now, it will just be one of many browsers. I - and apparently many other users - strongly encourage you to reconsider.

[tontodechoque]

what a useless update. this goes against every single reason why i switched to firefox, but then again it is simpler to ignore your user base for a quick buck. many users arent gonna be happy about this change and most of those will leave.

[Entity411]

To be completely transparent:

The instant that Mozilla adds even 'optional' support for AI features I will view it as the absolute death of this browser. I already hate that I have to lobotomize my internet experience for the sake of avoiding tracking and other dangers. Admittedly I viewed Firefox as only a minuscule bulwark against the vulgarities of the commercial internet, but with this decision it will be officially no less than cancerous and require excision from my personal life. 

'Optional' does not solve any problems nor make me feel better. I have had to spend actual time and beyond reasonable effort to disable 'Optional' features in the past. I do not trust any program I download blindly nor completely anymore because of this. The fact that it will be allowed at all means that eventually, months or years down the line, my assumed silence will be taken for granted as acquiescence and then this absolutely will be enabled without my knowledge or consent. Or Mozilla, like so many others, will say these things are disabled and just do what they please anyway. 

In my mind I'm already viewing the Mozilla foundation as a dying effort, and this is just another nail in the coffin. 'Nonetheless, standing still while technology moves forward doesn’t benefit the web or the people who use it' Is a useless and empty phrase. AI needs no integrating, it needs nothing short of absolute refusal. Calling it AI is a ruse in itself. Generative programming has no place in the human conversation, it accomplishes nothing of value and harms everything it touches. You could have been the browser that commits to combating this for the fad that it is, but I guess the money is too good or whatever. I hope you feel actual pain when Mozilla gets absorbed into whatever digital grey-goo the so called 'AI' inevitably decide to drown you in. 

I do not believe there is anything that will change my mind, but instead of just deleting my account and moving on I have been trying to be an old man yelling at clouds a little more.

AI is nothing short of a blight on world culture, it is strangling the internet, it is destroying creative fields, it is impacting the environment and technology in so many negative ways, and I resent having it shoved down my throat 'for my own good'

After a lifetime spent watching personal computers and the internet grow and flourish I can now see that my stop is coming up. Too much more of this and I will unplug completely and scream frothing expletives at every young moron that shoves their magic rectangle in my face or dares record me for their content.

[raster]

Mozilla’s CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo said: "AI should always be a choice — something people can easily turn off." I sincerely hope they keep that promise.

[Careful_Knives]

But people already made that choice, they came to Firefox or remained with Firefox specifically to avoid AI bloatware.

[DasBoot]

Everybody is so viscerally opposed to this braindead "innovation". No one asked for it. No one wants it. Everyone wants absolutely nothing to do with AI. The only reasons anybody used Mozilla is as an alternative to Google and their predatory behavior and AI. This is stupidly out of touch and you're just destroying the userbase that you have.

Instead of being a better alternative to Google, you decided to imitate Google and do what they're doing but worse.

If ANYBODY wants an AI-integrated search engine, they are going to use Google - not you.

You don't think everybody will just find another search engine?

You underestimate internet users' spite. I, myself, would scour the internet to find another search engine - and they may be what it takes, simply to avoid you AI shills.

[Qhaz]

Considering the fact that it seems like every single reply to this post is begging you all to NOT impliment more AI features into Firefox, I think it's abundantly clear that YOUR USERS DO NOT WANT THIS. AT ALL.

Like many other commenters have stated here, if Firefox does become "AI"-centric, I will uninstall and find a new, more secure, "AI"-free browser.

You are going to lose so, so, so many users for this.

[Art5]

It's disappointing to hear the AI doubledown by the CEO. Mozilla is a nonprofit, presumably that means it should be pushing for the interests of it's users. I understand why companies like google and microsoft want to peddle their snakeoil, it's another thing they can sell, but why is Mozilla wasting the money that should be going towards developing an alternative to chromium on something that doesn't holistically make the browser better? Why is unpopular stuff like this being not just being left to extensions? for years it's been tech cognizant nerds pushing for people to adopt firefox over chromium alternatives. If the push continues in this direction, what user base will be left?

[danniiiyyyl]

Frankly, I would rather defecate in my hands and clap, if it's all the same to you. I want AI in my browser like I want caesium in my water. 

There is little to no point in this. If people wanted some ugly, AI riddled browser they would - and do - go to one of the ugly, AI riddled Chromium browser. "As long as you can trust it" - give me a break. Your new CEO is either wilfully ignorant, in which case he shouldn't be your CEO, or he's a profit-driven money-grubbing liar, in which case he shouldn't be your CEO. The idea that anyone can trust AI is laughable. It's not a person. Don't be ridiculous. And certainly no one trusts companies that use it or, worse, laud it. Even Microsoft, a company with no self-preservation instinct, is pulling back from AI because people are shunning their awful AI tools. Larian, internet darlings who made a huge game, announced their intention to use gen AI and the internet has been dogwalking them all week for it. 

To come to the lame train this late in the game isn't just foolish, it's indolent. Like the .com bubble, NFTs, and crypto this is a pathetic flash-in-pan gimmick that people are already getting sick of. To pour resources into it, and waste money on it, in the hopes of making a few quick bucks while simultaneously burning the thousands, if not millions, who use this browser to get away from the AI slop that chromium is forcing on people is beyond reproach. 

I cannot abide narrow-minded, short-sighted nonsense in a company like this, that was founded thanks to Netscape developers rising up against Microsoft's "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" strategy. Shame on you.

[PennyPM]

Ooof. Y'all, I've been using Mozilla Firefox since like 2008. Never before have I felt a drive to comment on a single thing y'all've done. At any time browser choice was questioned, I scoffed and truly felt I was using the best browser for my needs. This is a disappointment and a deal-breaker. I'll be testing out alternative browser options until I see firm and official word that any and all AI features are being put to rest permanently. AI features have only ever been foist upon me against my will and interest and I have taken any and every opportunity to remove them from my products and life. "Standing still while technology moves forward" implies that the technology itself has agency here, rather than the reality which is that you are an organization of people who are choosing to see AI as a technological way forward. Touch grass.

[OfficeSupplies]

I, like many others here, use FireFox because we DESPERATELY don’t want AI touching our lives. It saddens me to see Mozilla resources going to this and I really hope that you will reconsider the future of this software. I really just want my web browser to be a web browser and anything else is bloat and a waste of development resources. 

[habitualyIronic]

I don't want AI in my browser. Nobody who currently uses Firefox wants AI in their browser. Firefox doesn't come pre-installed on anything. Anybody who is using Firefox went looking for it. They did that because they wanted a DIFFERENT browser, one that does things differently to Chromium. All you'll do with this stuff is chase those people away.

[tuesclues]

I'm extremely confused by the insistence on "moving forward" with technology by implementing features that no one has asked for or expressed interest in. I can't think of a single time in the last 5 years that something labeled as "AI" has meaningfully helped me in any way. In fact, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find technology that actually does what I need it to do, instead of doing what it "thinks" is best for me because of some unknowable algorithm that I don't have access to. 

I DON'T want an AI assistant that is going to hallucinate information or incorrectly summarize webpages. I don't care if it's toggleable. The fact that it's there implies to me that Mozilla as a company doesn't care about what its users actually want. I will be looking for alternative browsers if they keep trying to push useless bloatware on me.

[dmcknight]

If you must do this, please for the love of your core users, make it optional. I think you will find that most of your users do not want it.

[VonMorjo]

Wow... One of the main reasons why I choose and stuck by Firefox is now being removed 😞 it was such a good browser, and I was so happy to feel like I could trust a company to not bloat it with AI, but I guess that's over now. Thank you for letting us know so I can find a different browser without AI bloat to switch to ASAP...

[sbuggbot]

Users shouldn't have to jump through hoops or wait for updates to be able to turn off AI nonsense they didn't ask for and switched to Firefox specifically to get away from.

[Onefell]

I will Absolutely will nuke my Firefox browsers from all my devices if you do this.  “standing still while technology moves forward” I guess if “moving forward” means software bloat, privacy loss, and irresponsible environmental impact but tbh, that sounds like moving backwards to me. 
I can think and browse the internet for myself. Don’t insult me or other users by saying I need an AI tool to hold my hand. Say goodbye to a large chunk of your userbase.

[saturdayshorts]

 

[Fausphorus]

I'm so tired and pissed off about this. Please stop. I only just got used to using Firefox after leaving other AI browsers and now this bull's happening.

[SoccerArtist]

Hey, the best thing about Firefox is that it doesn't do the stupid crap every other browser does. It's not chromium, it's not spying, it's not AI. I've been recommending it to everyone, any time browsers come up in conversation, as the superior browser for years.

Toggling it off isn't enough.

If you go AI, I'll leave too. And I'll start telling everyone I've ever recommended this browser to, to leave, and I will never recommend it again.

AI is objectively bad. And it's a bubble that's going to pop. You will lose, along with everyone else in the industry, when it does. Do yourself a favor, don't do AI

[xaephan]

I've been using Firefox for going on two decades, and this direction is just not it. Why are you going ahead with these changes when users have made it abundantly clear we don't want them? You have stats on who actively uses this AI bs and who went into the configs to turn all bloatware off, that should tell you everything you need.

The new CEO's remarks also don't inspire confidence at all. If this keeps up, I'll be moving onto something else. I stuck with Firefox because it's customizable and didn't push crap like this onto the users like Edge or Chrome, but if you change that, why should I keep using it?

[whendricso]

Dear Firefox team,

I'm a lifetime user of Firefox, ever since it came out. I was living in a dorm room at the time and it was faster than IE and more secure, so I used it.

I continued using Firefox through college, and afterward as privacy became a concern I made sure to install firefox on my new computers and then never touch another browser. Firefox was more secure and faster, and as a power user I value that security.

So, when your team says you're adding AI slop machines into the browser directly, to read my web activity and send it to you, with OPT-OUT instead of OPT-IN, I say that I'm leaving for good.

Like, no questions asked, if you put this feature into your browser, I'm DONE. I'm not the only person saying this. You will not capture the broader market because the broader market are people who are too burned out to give one single crap about what web browser is installed on their device. Your entire userbase is comprised of people like me, and when this change goes live you will lose the vast majority of those users.

[pseudonymous]

I've been using firefox as my main browser since I was in school. It was my go-to for as long as I have used computers. Today, for the first time, I have been seriously searching for non-chromium alternatives. Why are you doing this stuff that literally nobody wants?

[noonmiles]

If I wanted an ai browser, I'd use chrome or any other chromium based one. The option to disable it isn't really better, it's still there and there's very little way for the common person to be sure what you're doing isn't being used to train the **bleep** thing even if you disable it. All in all, this is a very tone deft answer considering the backlash the existing features are getting. This is a poor decision and I'll be looking to move to a different browser soon. 

[Katuary]

You said it yourself: a massive swath of Firefox users moved to Firefox specifically because they are trying to avoid AI. Keep it out of the browser; there are plenty of alternatives people would already be using if they wanted AI. 

[mrblorps]

The only reason I use Firefox over other browsers is the fact that the AI stuff isn't everywhere (and the stuff that has been added I can remove easily, though I was completely ticked off).

Stop. Just. Stop. We do not need this. It does not help increase usage or help users. It is bloated and goes against everything Firefox has stood for in the past.

I *will* move browsers. I want a light-weight browser with no tracking or bloatware and with customization. The best I have been able to find is Firefox. 

[Nsalia]

I have been a Firefox user since the early days of the internet, since before Chromium browsers even existed, and yet I've stuck with Firefox because of the dedication to privacy and the lack of jumping onto harmful fads for short term gain. The news that Firefox is aiming to become an AI browser means I will be finding some other browser. Even if this course is reversed, you guys have shown just how untrustworthy you really are. 

No one in the community wants this. No one in the community is asking for this. You all should be better than this and should be ashamed of what you are forcing onto users, opt out options or not. 

AI is a scourge on the Internet and needs to be stopped, not embraced. Goodbye Firefox, thanks for over a decade of being the best. Now you're no better than the next slop software. 

[Elrohir]

No AI. I have used Firefox for years because it's largely not bowed to the idiocy of the newest tech fad instead of maintaining a functional, adaptable web browser. If you add AI junk I will be switching away.

[yeasty]

You can take your AI and shove it where the sun don't shine. Others have said it better than I can, but I will no longer use firefox if it continues to chase the AI trend.

[thepokemonqueen]

if ai becomes a priority of firefox, then firefox will cease to be a priority of mine 🙂

[CmH]

Well, I have to accept willy-nilly if firefox also becomes such a weird AI thing as everybody is crazy about AI, except me. But please don't forget to add a button to switch it off, that would be great. Thank you very much

[Firedon]

Incredibly disappointed. "shape how AI integrates into the web in ways that promote [...] choice", but you're taking away the choice to not have one of the biggest non-chromium browsers actually be free of the en**bleep**tification that is the AI-ification of everything. Just... stop that **bleep**.

[jackseo]

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[Alvis1218]

Please do not follow this path. AI in Firefox eliminates many of the key advantages it has over other browsers. This alienates the Firefox user-base and is self-sabotage, regardless of any *potential* minor short-term use the features might get. I and many others have already swapped to using other, non-AI browser options, directly because of this decision and those related to it - and many who haven't yet are planning to do the same shortly. This is a betrayal of the values that Firefox claims to stand on. Bowing to the pressures of AI fanaticism is not progress.

I will happily resume using Firefox if only you restore it to being actually, factually better than the alternatives, as it has been for a long time.

[nullv0id]

Yeah I think your tone deaf to what people want. Either opt in or don’t add it. But my opinion is it shouldn’t be a part of Firefox. 

What’s next jive coders replacing the Mozilla developers… 

[Aarynia]

I work in a Google school district. I manage students' data safety all day long. I spend every day fighting with every big AI product that comes across my desk.

I go home to Firefox to escape that nightmare. Please just support your browser with no AI. I like using Firefox for what it is, not what you want it to become. I'll drop it as fast as if my husband suddenly started listening to Alphabro crypto **bleep**.