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.

[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**.

[Faye]

The only reason so many people use Firefox is because it wasn't loaded up with AI slop like all the other browsers, how about you keep it that way instead of chasing the garbage tech crazed share holders are deluded into shoving down everyone's throats.

The only AI related feature I want to see in any browser is a way to filter all AI results from searches.

[PushoverMC]

Gen Ai isn't "technology moving forward", it's a trend that is a dead end. It's not profitable and will never be profitable, it's just a pointless money sink. It's the modern-day equivalent of asbestos and radium, something dangerous and harmful that companies are rushing to put into everything, and will cost so much time, money, and effort to remove once people come to their senses.

[vixendoe]

I use Firefox specifically because it was *meant* to be privacy focused, less bloated, and something that just *works* without the need for such spyware and adware. If I am forced to deal with this useless piece of bloat that will do nothing but clutter my UI and scan what I am doing on MY browser, I will switch to another browser in a heartbeat. And I do not take this decision lightly, as I have been using Firefox for 20 years, since i was 4 years old. It was the first browser I ever got put on, and though it would break my heart to finally let it go, this will be my final straw.

[blackteapanther]

Nobody who uses firefox wants this crap, we all just want to use a browser that doesn't make our computer sound like a dying guinea pig

[msolachava]

Please do not do this. I use Firefox because it has so far been helpful in letting me avoid AI as much as possible. If you start implementing AI—and letting us battle the settings is NOT opt-in, but very much a default option—there will no longer be any reason for me to continue using Firefox, nor to continue hyping it up to my friends and family as my most favored browser. Your responsibility to your users is to let them avoid AI, not force them to integrate it into a browser they like only because it doesn't have AI. 

[MarianR_]

At this point, the use of AI has become morally reprehensible due to the damage it does to the environment and the way it "learns" in order to produce (i.e. by stealing from the work of other people), not to mention how it cognitively affects the people who use it. So it's not just like, "oh, you can just not use it" or "it's just for the people who want it". No. If you decide to implement this trash, then I'm obligated to find and use another browser, as other users will also do. We can't just look away while other people are affected due to this decision.

And as for the 'opt-in' issue it presents; it's gonna be so easy, when the damage is done, for whoever decided to implement AI to argue that "it's the user's fault, they opted to use ai, we didn't force them to" when you could have so easily not make it an option.

[subsolars]

With firefox's userbase largely being people migrating from other browsers because of their constant downgrading of features, privacy and bloatware to ESCAPE **bleep** like AI, why on EARTH would you think this is what your userbase wants? Talk about being so absolutely delusional to the wants and needs of the people that use your product. Jesus christ, AI is embarassing. 

[changeformatt]

please no i thought you were good

[cat1221]

It was so, so easy to continue being the best browser option on the market right now. You literally had to do nothing. You had to spend no additional money and create no additional features and you'd still be me and many others' first choice. You had one job, and you have quite literally gone out of your way to sabotage yourselves even though it would have required less effort if you didn't. It really shows a serious disconnect with your user base if you ever thought this was even remotely a good idea. To put it plainly: the only reason anyone uses Firefox over other browsers is because of its privacy features and because it doesn't have AI. In every other aspect you are essentially inferior to the more widely supported Chromium browsers. I will be switching to another browser because of this, and I will not be returning when you come back groveling on your hands and knees in the next few months promising this won't happen again, because your user base has been telling you this would happen for months and you still pushed forward anyway. How stupid do you think we are, that if you rephrased it a few times and dangled flashy buzzwords in our face like keys, we would suddenly be totally fine with it? We understand fully well what you are intending to add, why you are doing it, and what it means for users, and we have expressed in no uncertain terms that it will be a deal breaker. The problem is not that you haven't made it sound more appealing to us, the problem is that you think we would want this in the first place, and it's honestly insulting how little you understand about your user base. You are destroying the only things that make your browser worthwhile, and soon it will be your downfall. Like all software, Firefox is replaceable, and the only barrier between sticking with Firefox and switching to a similar browser without the AI slop is the minor inconvenience of transferring bookmarks and passwords, which is now something I will be undertaking. Good-bye.

[docf]

Posting this from Waterfox

That name again is Waterfox

One more time: WATERFOX

[Lavendeer]

It sounds to me like our feedback is being ignored to push an agenda. Now seems like a real good time to disable automatic updates.

[Rankanii]

Buddy. Why? Your users do not want this. I've been using Firefox for nearly two decades, but this new CEO has me wondering if I should start looking elsewhere. I use Firefox BECAUSE its not like the other browsers, and because I can control my internet experience. If I didn't care about that, I'd be using Safari and Apple products. I want to customize everything. I want to control all that I can see on my screen. I don't want AI and I don't want to lose the adblockers. Do not do this to your users. 

[SEN95]

I started using Firefox in the first place to get away from all the AI bloat that was making my last browser so frustrating to use. I won't be sticking around if the same thing is going to happen again. The climate has turned against AI and CEOs need to wake up and take notice soon or they won't have any customers left.

[FushigiFriend]

Firefox is supposed to be a safe haven from these kinds of practices. AI has no place in our future.

[galestral]

Are you kidding? This is the last thing that we want! A lot of us use Firefox because it's a browser with little-to-no AI and you want to put in MORE? This is tone-deaf to your user-base at best.

[Antra]

Dear Mozilla: Listen to your users and don't double down on this AI shtick. Otherwise you will find your once loyal user base jumping ship.

[Mazz]

People use Firefox precisely because you don't do this. Start shoving AI down our throats, and we will leave again.

AI is not the future. It is a fad, a bubble, a useless buzzword that tech illiterates think sounds cool and everyone else hates.

It is not reassuring to be told that I will have the ability to opt out of something that shouldn't be there in the first place.

[TerribleMemory]

This is going to end up being the same as ads. We will need extensions that identify and block AI generated content. In fact it will be *exactly* the same as ads because eventually the AIs will just start spamming you with sponsored content. They're just hoping to hook you before it happens.

I guess I should really be asking how much the "AI" free subscription will cost. Call it Firefox Premium maybe?

[GrannyGoodTea]

Entirely disappointing. All Mozilla has shown is that what trust it's built, it will throw it away to push AI, software that has so far shown to be a destructive plagiarism machine. I've cancelled my Mozilla subscriptions, will be looking for a new browser after two decades. Really disappointed the Mozilla continues to become much like it's competitors, selling off it's users privacy and adopting harmful tech under the guise of "keeping up."

[gator-enjoyer]

Literally the only reason I use this browser is the ability to avoid AI bull**bleep**. We don't want the slop, don't put this **bleep** in. You'd be no better than Chrome or Edge which a lot of us don't want at all. Get a **bleep**ing grip. I am appalled that this is the direction you are considering taking and will stop using the browser if this is implemented. Shame on you all. It's just going to make the browser a bloated mess.

[Lune1312]

I have been using Firefox as a replacement for other browsers for years now.  I hate Google and have no desire to use any browser that so shamelessly shoves AI down everyone's throats.  Thanks to having used Firefox, I feel as though I dodged a bullet.  While AI is still forced upon people on most platforms and websites, Firefox generally can do a decent job at keeping all of the AI garbage at bay.

I appreciate Firefox's versatility and customizability, dedication to privacy, and generally user-based ideals.  Incorporating AI into Firefox directly jeopardizes all of that.  Firefox users don't want AI.  That's part of the entire reason we use Firefox.  We don't want Google's nonsense, or that of any other browser, we want a user-focused, user-friendly browser that doesn't just jump on any money-making, data-stealing bandwagon it can see.  We don't need invasive and unhelpful bloatware that we can toggle off.

We do not want AI.  I can assure you, we are not being left behind by the "moving forward" of technology.  We choose to be here, using Firefox, because we do not want AI.

Many people migrated here to Firefox from the default that is Google (some have also switch from other mainstream browsers such as Edge and Safari, too).  Some may have used Firefox from the very beginning, but if they did not like it they would have found something else to switch to.  The majority of Firefox users specifically switched to Firefox for a reason.  We could have easily just used Bing or Edge or whatever other AI-infested browser is out there.  But we chose Firefox.  Don't make us feel the need to migrate to another browser again.  Switching everything to another browser takes time and energy, and Firefox will have fewer and fewer users because of it.  It's a lose-lose situation for everyone.  We do not want AI- at least I know I certainly don't, and I can see from the other comments here that AI is certainly not a well-appreciated addition.

I have already begun looking into Firefox replacements, but I remain hopeful that I will not have to use them anytime soon.

[Rhe]

"Everyone else is forcing you to use AI so we will too" and "everyone else is embracing this new bubble that's killing the environment so we'd better join in" is a wild take. I've been using Firefox for years but if it continues to move forward with AI integration I'll be looking for another browser. At that point it's no better than Chrome (or its clones). It's too bad and so incredibly short sighted. 

[TomGarritson]

Your lack of AI features are what people want from you. If you implement these features I will instantly go else where. Your proposed AI features are slop and you should be shamed.

[nonononononono]

No

[DeiJambastion]

Nobody wants this. STOP.

[astb]

Just get rid of that **bleep** and become a lean, secure and trustworthy browser again. Web browsers are clearly not the for including AI slop.

[prettyghostboy]

the reason I use firefox is because I don't want to ai bull**bleep** in my browser.  If firefox stars adding ai features then I'm just going to stop using it and find some other browser (probably vivaldi i guess?) I dropped chrome for less.  I don't care if it's opt out for now - if this is the way that firefox is moving I don't want it.  

[phantomfox0033]

I've used Firefox since 2009. I do not want ai/big auto complete/large language models in my preferred browser. I do not want this in any way, shape, or form. If you put more ai in your product, I will stop using your product and find another browser that won't give in to the societal pressure to put half baked unnecessary coding into something that works perfectly fine. This is not a threat, it is literally what I will do. I'm halfway ready to go to linux over Windows 11, I will leave mozilla firefox in the dust if I have to.

[CrystalTikal]

I like AI the same way I like spiders: as far away from me as possible, or nonexistent. It has no use being in a Web browser, and even if there was some niche legitimate use case for it, it's tainted by the damage that AI data centers do to the environment and the rampant piracy, theft, and other crimes committed by AI companies to train their AIs. It was this sort of thing that convinced me to move from Chrome to Firefox.

[AnnaL]

I have used Firefox for years and encouraged anyone who will listen to switch because of the increasing amount of bloatware, tracking, and, yes, AI on other browsers. Not only will this change undermine everything that made Firefox stand out to me, but I will switch to another browser that suits my needs the moment these changes occur. Please, do not do this. 

[NyxRain]

If you plan on implementing AI, then you are going to see people migrate elsewhere. No one wants it. I've used this browser to get away from Chrome, and if AI is going to be implemented, then I will join those leaving to find other browsers. 

[Hurraypril]

Heard the news today about the new CEO being pro AI integration into Firefox. Came to the discussion forums, and was dismayed that this is the only thread here to discuss. It's a month old, and shows that the user base is very obviously against new AI "features". I have been a user of Firefox for over 15 years, and in that time, it has been the only browser I have suggested my less tech-literate friends use. If Firefox goes down the path of more AI, not less, I will be jumping ship at the first opportunity, and encouraging everyone I know to do the same.

Please reconsider your stance on the matter. Thank you.

[siria]

I have been using Firefox since the 0.8 release. If you continue down this BS "path" with AI, I will no longer use it. That's a lot of user loyalty to torch.

[ReddInk]

So what I'm getting from this is that you're going to ignore community input and keep putting more AI slop into the browser. If I wanted a bloated browser that tracked all my information and forced AI in my face I'd be using chrome. 

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

No you don't. You have our input. Our input is we don't want it. And your response was you don't care, and you're moving forward with more AI features anyways.

Fire your idiot tech bro CEO. I don't want AI in my browser and nothing will change that. If AI is actually forced into the browser, I'm switching.

[Hait]

This sucks **bleep** and so does AI. You only do this nonsense because banks give you low interest for it. I will be switching to a browser that hasn't had diarrhea shoved down its throat. 

[luis123456789]

The insistence of Mozilla to pursue the slop, even more with the recent new CEO announcement, is astounding, and shows that the current Mozilla is little more than the Democrats of web browsing: their only good argument used to be "we are not the other guy!" and now they can't even do THAT properly.

A purge of the executive suits is needed. Mozilla has to attend to the people.

[IoanNemos]

No! No no no! No AI! This is exactly what I didn't want. Mozilla, no, absolutely no artificial intelligence. No hallucinating machines. No water-guzzling garbage. Please. No. Get rid of it.

[RBlue118]

I’m here because Firefox is good at privacy and control. Forcing us to integrate and use ai breaks both of those.
Also, if you have to establish in your message that “oh we know you guys won’t like this but—” you’re doing it wrong. Fear is not a way to run a company, and if ai was actually useful for anything, you wouldn’t need to force it on us, so you aren’t “missing out” on anything. Honestly, I thought you guys were holding the line. I’m really disappointed that you’re not honestly