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.

[pittstonjoma]

I do NOT want AI in my browser. Also, the ceo saying that he could make a lot of money off of us by getting rid of ad blockers is very disturbing. I am very disappointed in Firefox right now.

[Dageem]

Why are you trying to make Firefox like every other browser? The main selling point of Firefox is that it's not like every other browser. Are you trying to get washed out and shut down? 

[WizardandGalaxy]

I've already been refusing updates for Firefox because they attempt to integrate literally any amount of AI; if you go forward with this, I will stop using it altogether.  I don't want a data-thieving, energy-wasting, factually inconsistent sentence generator integrated into anything that I use, and nobody with half of half a brain or the slightest smidge of moral backbone does either.  Walk this idea back or lose your user base.

[reisende]

**bleep** LLMs built on stolen data.

**bleep** any company who thinks the openAI to nvidia to openAI to nvidia circle jerk is anything but a way to screw consumers without lube. 

I don't want LLMs full of stolen content anywhere near me and I'm sad and goddamn pissed that the last bastion of decency is bending the knee to this bull**bleep** autofill pretending to think. 

Think for yourselves, ffs. 

[Megliz89]

Literally who is asking for this. Firefox has been a consistent and what I had considered to be a “values-first” browser. I don’t want this and I will stop using it. Any AI technology — which again to be clear I do not want — should be opt in and not opt out 

[FrostFireSky]

This is so disappointing and, frankly, disgusting. I switched to Firefox *because* it didn't have obnoxious, invasive AI features that I don't use and I don't want. I guess I'm going to start looking for yet another new browser. Thanks for nothing.

[Ihateai]

Boooooo!!!!! You’re a disappointment 

[mysandwichran]

For someone who switched to Firefox for privacy and functionality, a simple opt-in is not good enough. We want less AI.

It's a slog and a disappointment every time I have to search for yet another tutorial to turn off the useless AI features. There are ten thousand things that Mozilla could be doing to improve performance or functionality instead of making it intentionally obtuse to turn off the new features. 

For a person actually interested in the material of an article they clicked on, what use is a summarize feature that can't understand the content or the meaning of it?. Anyone with even a single shred of interest on what they are doing finds these "tools" insulting.

We don't need yet another AI chatbot. I and all the people I know have found ways to disable AI assistants everywhere. I don't need the facade of understanding from a language model to tell me where a file is. We already have technology to find stuff! Users are not brainless kids that don't know what boolean logic is, and even if they are, we can learn.

Stop wasting time on worthless trash, and backtrack before you lose the goodwill of the loyal users who keep supporting Firefox. And stop wasting the developer's time on this, I can't imagine the absolute horror it must be to study a career only to be stuck making stupid useless garbage for money hungry CEO's. (yes I can imagine, isn't that our entire reality?)

[Daenyx]

I use Firefox because it was the only major browser I was willing to trust after Google decided "don't be evil" wasn't a desirable part of their mission statement anymore.  And that has gone QUADRUPLE since everyone and their dog has been trying to shove generative AI down our collective throats.  This is so stupid.  Do not do this.  You're currently depending on a dedicated userbase of geeks who know what a security, social, and environmental mess this whole AI bubble is.  You will lose us if you follow through on this asinine plan.  

Unfortunately the people you won't lose are the ones who don't know enough to turn it off.  And they're the ones who are going to be hurt by it.  This is a fundamentally user-hostile decision, in ways that are going to hurt the people who still trust Firefox to be the "safe" browser the most.

[Greybgryphon]

Is the AI making you do this?  Have they already taken over?  Like, why would you ruin a perfectly good browser with a loyal fanbase with a **bleep**ing chatbot?  No one needs another chatbot.  Don't do this.

[scubadiver]

I have used Firefox for twenty years, recommend it to anyone and everyone I meet personally and professionally. 

Two months ago I noticed that as I was opening the context menu to inspect and element for debugging an AI chat button was inserted dynamically after the context menu was opened pushing down the inspect element context menu option. I dove into options:config and saw the number of machine learning options present and haven't recommended it since. 

I'm sure there are investors willing to give you loads of cash for this crap, but no investors will give you anything if you have no users. I left Windows over AI and dark patterns, and I'll certainly leave Mozilla for the same if I need to. 

Your userbase is full of people who don't use what's convenient, we don't have platform buy-in. We will leave.

[korik1]

I swear to God that if you put AI into Firefox I will switch to **bleep**ing Opera! Do NOT **bleep** this up. Leave out the AI garbage.

[soyproduct345]

I carry a fundamental belief that everyone deserves someone in their life who can tell them when they are being a gigantic idiot.

these 'AI' integrations were only appealing to investors because fundamental misunderstanding of what these machines actually are, a misunderstanding that is baked into it's marketing. (I say were because investors are realizing that these 'AI' integrations aren't marketable) Microsoft just cut it's projected growth for it's AI projects IN HALF

the technology is already reaching it's plateau, it clearly an economic bubble, it's only profitable because the data centers are being run at a loss, near-to-none of the training data was acquired through ethical means, and said data was annotated through actual modern-day slavery.

and they are out of data to train these models on. like period. 

and that's not even talking about the impact of the data centers on the environment and the communities that are unfortunate enough to have one built next to them.

investing in AI at this point is really, really stupid.

and your CEO deserves someone to tell him he's being really-really stupid.

[heroofashesnot]

I got Firefox after being recommended it by multiple individuals for its privacy and lack of AI features. However, this company has continuously went against what had brought me to using its services. If this continues, then I will have to bring me services elsewhere.

I can say with certainty that I have had my trust in Firefox permanently tarnished, I will not recommend this browser at all anymore.

[DergonLargePaw]

Cancelled my longtime VPN subscription because of this slop. What a waste of resources.

[jen395]

hell no, I use firefox because it DOESN'T have bs like this

[bugAndy]

> "We are committed to an internet that elevates critical thinking, reasoned argument, shared knowledge, and verifiable facts."

i think yall are forgetting that key part of the "mozilla manifesto." NOTHING about some bull**bleep** ai chatbot (or really ANY ai/LLM feature in a **bleep** web browser) reflects that statement.

the reason so many people flocked to firefox was to GET AWAY from ai in browsers. and now yall are just nuking your own userbase just because yall saw some tech bros that invested in NFTs say that chatgpt is the future.

and thats not even including the devastating ecological impact that this ai bull**bleep** is having on the planet lmao

all this ai **bleep** in firefox is just proving that mozilla is just as spineless and greedy as every other browser company. actually such a **bleep** joke lmao

[BinaryStars]

I switched to Firefox when Chrome had begun actions to remove all of ad block, and had been very satisfied with my choice regardless of having to move everything across. Unfortunately I find myself once again questioning if I will be forced to find yet another new browser for my causal usage because of the continuous additions of AI. I can't help but feel rather disappointed and disgusted by it's invasion into daily life tasks that do not require it. I worry for the continued security, stability and future of Firefox if this path continues.

[NoAIinFirefox]

I do not want AI features. Save your development money and don’t put them in Firefox. 

[darkpablo]

Please no. Don't ruin an already great browser with unnecessary and unwanted AI. Listen to your base.

[GPedia]

Hi. Please delegate the AI Browser idea to a whole entirely separate other browser. i love Firefox and would hate to have to search for a new browser because its stuffing AI down my throat like every other blob on or around the internet.

[Reeah]

Implement AI into your product in a way that takes more than 30 seconds to disable and you will lose me as a customer. I dropped Google, I'll drop Firefox as well. Don't **bleep**ing push me.

[se316]

im going to be so real with you guys. i am a life long die hard Firefox defender and the other day I was reading up on how prompt injection attacks work and thought “well good thing I use Firefox (🤡) because I would never trust an AI browser with any sensitive information” then here we are. If you move ahead with this I will leave firefox for a different fork that isn't maintained by Mozilla and doesn't include any of the AI features. I'm also the IT manager for our organization and will make sure all of our computers are using one of the alternatives. Do not do this, I can tell you that you are losing a lot of people's trust and I would not be surprised if this is the thing that finally makes you hit the trust thermocline. Do not make me leave, because once I do I'm never coming back the same way I never went back to chrome/chromium. You will be as bad as chrome to me. Being open about putting crap in our browsers is still putting crap in our browsers. 

also, to the casual user reading this and asking yourself “what are the other variants out there?” I've seen people recommend Librewolf and Waterfox 👍🏾

[se316]

While we're on the subject, why can't you just make the AI browser a separate browser you offer while still maintaining the legacy Firefox experience? That seems like a safer way to test the waters and see how it does (or doesn't) pay off instead of burning your userbase's trust like this. 

[se316]

like. do you even understand why your users like you and prefer you to the competition?

[BezKa]

Stop with this AI nonsense please. I do not want a hallucinating robot destroying the environment in my browser just so you can "keep up with the tech".

But who cares about actual users I suppose.

If you're going to waste your time and labor on adding all that crap, find a moment to do something useful and add options for disabling ALL OF IT. And make it disabled by default.

[sunset_789]

I see no need to add AI to Firefox. The constant popups about AI in other browsers are part of why I use Firefox: to avoid those annoying things. Your userbase DOES NOT want AI shoved down our throats. Also, it should not be as much of a pain as it is to find where to disable AI things. First of all: if you MUST include ANY of that AI BS, it should be OFF by default. Second of all: any settings should be easily found IN THE SETTINGS, not having to go to "about.config" and fool around until I can find what I wanted off in the first place.

[jay666]

TRULY! 

[SlopCursedSoul]

I left google chrome, ill drop you just as fast. Im not putting up with AI in my web browser you tools.

[kaizuna]

Hello! I am a long time firefox user from the early aughts who had a brief change to chrome-- and an eventual return to firefox because of the quality, privacy and customization of the browser. I paid for Mozilla VPN for some time until it became redundant for other reasons, because I trusted Mozilla and their commitment to quality, privacy and user experience. 

I must ask the question we all are wondering: Is any of this AI implementing really something any of your user base was asking for? Did you get hundreds of comments from your users lately begging you to include more AI in your product? Or, more expectedly, is this ACTUALLY a management decision from those who are so disconnected from the reality of their users that they somehow think this is even remotely a good idea.

I have already gone to great lengths to disable the currently available AI features of Firefox. Noticing, diagnosing and disabling are bothersome. Having these features be on launch as opt-out is already troublesome. Am I supposed to be checking constantly? Wait until I hear about an unfavorable update online? Must I trust that Firefox will never try to create more AI featureslop? I only foresee from this a never-ending cycle of checking, disabling, updating, checking and disabling. 
All this with no guarantee that my browser's functionality won't be impeded by the features, disabled though they may be. That the browser would not collect my data for their LLM, that it would not be running in the background, that my privacy would not be at some great risk. 
Firefox and Mozilla, I trust. I used to trust. LLM's, not so much. We have seen security leaks already. We have seen the data usage, the power drain, the environmental and social impact. We, your users, are not only a casual browsing crowd but are people who have made the conscious choice lately in an ever-growing chromium based internet, to choose Firefox and AVOID these features. 

Even if somehow this IS the fad of the future, this is not the future of Firefox users. I know I speak for many more that are disappointed, and angry. I do not want to be constantly vigilant, ever wondering when the next awful AI update will come. There are other browsers committed to being anti-AI. I will leave. Lots of us will leave.

Good luck, Mozilla. I hope you realize this for the mistake that it is.

[jay666]

Very well said

[mysandwichran]

exactly my words, very well put.

[bluebird2001]

You are once again deeply misunderstanding your userbase; ANY use of AI will be a deal breaker for a huge number of us. I am far from alone in saying that if AI is incorporated into Firefox AT ALL, I will immediately be uninstalling and switching browsers.

[Nidoskull]

Hi. I don't want any AI in my browser. At least it's opt-in, but how do I turn it off entirely? I want the things I look up to be real and factual, no hallucinations, no summarization. I just want a browser that works the way it has been working for the past decade, before this stupid AI bubble arrived.

[secondofjune]

i've been using Firefox for over 20 years.  it's been the one browser that i knew i could trust.  if Firefox "evolves into a modern AI browser" it's going to be devastating.  no one wants this.  no one needs this.  i don't want to be able to toggle it on or off, i want Firefox to stay as it is and not waste natural resources to force AI down our throats.

[Ca2]

I have used Firefox since 2009 and converted many people to it because I believed in the ethics of this team. I have been very disappointed in this movement towards AI. If it does not stay opt in, I will leave and convince as many people as possible to get away from this. 

[nothingNU]

Please! I just recommended this to a friend yesterday *because* they were looking for something less **bleep**ty that didn't mess with their morals. Now I'll have to tell them you just decided to flush all *your* morals down the drain and force this AI **bleep** down our throats like everyone else.

We want AI free spaces!!!!! We don't want to support the unnecessary consumption of water for the gigatic inaccuracy machines!!!! 

[nothingNU]

Actually, does anyone here care to recommend me the next AI-free browser you're considering? Firefox just got killed by its new CEO. What a shame. 

[se316]

I'm eyeing waterfox or icecat, I'd look for any browser with a gecko engine (see “Usage” section) that's not hopping on the AI bandwagon. 

[dakotastevens85]

Profoundly disappointed to see my favorite browser waste time and money on making itself worse. Time to find a new one