Mozilla’s next chapter: Building the world’s most trusted software company

[2mustange]

In case anyone missed it, the new CEO posted this: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/leadership/mozillas-next-chapter-anthony-enzor-demeo-new-ceo/

My initial thoughts, this reliance on AI does not spark confidence in the future of Firefox. 

[sbuggbot]

Nobody asked for AI features. People use Firefox specifically because it's one of the few browsers that still offers its users privacy and doesn't have AI shoved into it. 

[altaratlas]

All the AI functions in the world can not replace the need for my browser to be trustworthy and secure, which is why I chose Firefox in the first place. I need to be able to trust the information I see and the actions I take on my browser and feel confident that they are done privately. Large language models are inherently fragile when used at scale, they cannot be completely trusted and are insecure. Even if the whole model is run locally on my machine, reliability is still an issue. 

'Basic' browsers will not die because AI cannot engender complete trust, so Firefox does not (and should not) need to follow the AI hype train. If Mozilla develops AI crud and makes them available only as an opt-in utility, I will not opt-in. If they are not opt-in, I'll leave.

[Archiewhite]

An average Firefox user is here to not deal with Chromium and all the consequences of what the people at there think up. By implementing AI features against the desires of the userbase complaining in this very place, Firefox is losing its main purpose as the browser for people who don't want the big digit to make all the decisions for them.

[rainbowbarnacle]

We don't need AI. Don't try to fix what isn't broken.

Please don't make me switch to another browser, Firefox has been my default for so long because it respected my privacy and isn't full of AI slop I didn't ask for.

[esca_f]

I use Firefox specifically *because* it didn't rely on AI/LLM functionality and was better for privacy. It's incredibly frustrating and disheartening to hear another CEO chugging the kool-aid without an ounce of critical thought.

[Catkyn]

This was some of the worst possible news I could have seen today; Firefox is the only browser I use! I loathe AI (generative) and I hate the monopoly that Google and Microsoft have on nearly all of the ways we can use the internet. Firefox remains the only browser left standing that will let you permanently disable the Very Few AI "features" that have been added so far; all of the other available options have been fully merged with AI to a point I find hideously unusable and, if they allow you to disable any of the AI "features" at all, will only allow you to do so for a brief time before re-enabling them. 

If this new CEO has his way, Firefox (and Mozilla) are going to be jumping onto the (generative) Artificial Intelligence bandwagon and frankly, I hate it. The servers needed to run the AI Hallucination Machine are ridiculously expensive, terrible for the environment, noisy as heck, and quite honestly if I wanted to hallucinate an answer to anything I'd look to more fun ways to do that before ever asking a machine.

In my experience, the more AI "features" have been added to a thing, the less secure it gets, the more bloated it feels to use, it slows down immensely, and the less I can trust that I have actually found the answers I was looking for. I do not want (generative) AI on my machines! They don't need them! It should be fully optional to have such! Not a sudden, and exceedingly unwelcome, permanent feature that has been added.

[fireflyonskates]

I've been using Firefox for a hell of a long time because it was the best browser out there for privacy. But I used Google websearch, Microsoft Windows and Gmail for a long time too, and when they nose-dived into en**bleep**tification, I ditched them. I'm on Linux and encrypted email now, and various websearches. I can and will ditch Firefox too if they shove more AI into it such that it interferes with privacy. Absolutely moronic that so many companies are jumping on the AI bandwagon when we all know it SUCKS at most jobs it's being given, and they're only losing money on it.

[Ryalo]

Super disappointed in Firefox for this. I specifically use Firefox because of the lack of bloatware nonsense. I have zero interest in AI features, and will definitely be looking for a Firefox alternative if this is the path that Firefox is on. 

[ragecndybars]

So crushed... I've been using Firefox and happy with it for a decade or so and now I need to find an alternative because the new CEO decided to throw all my trust for the browser into the garbage. Can't have anything anymore!! Very frustrating. 😕

[Yuki_Tsukihana]

I moved from Chrome back to Firefox because of the privacy issues only to be hit with this bull**bleep**. We have browser AIs that are literally stealing people's banking data, and this new **bleep** wants more of that? If a new browser pops up that doesn't have any of this AI bloatware, I'm switching immediately. Goodbye, Firefox.

[Orudeon]

"Firefox remains our anchor. It will evolve into a modern AI browser." Barf. Please, do not do this, reverse course. I go out of my way to install Firefox on all of my devices because I don't want any of that trash on my computer. This is so out of touch with their users and far too tuned in to tech hype. 

[Hatter]

I do not want more AI in my life. It is already making every aspect of life harder and less realible and I use firefox BECAUSE it doesn't shove useless crap down my throat. I am begging the CEO to not sacrifice our privacy and the efficacy of the service to hop on a stupid bandwagon that will only hurt the environment and the remaining shreds of my sanity.

[Onko]

The problem is that LLMs are inherently untrustworthy. Even if it were possible to solve ai hallucinations and run a totally local model, I still wouldn't trust it with anything. 

Any product that handles my information and uses LLM is one to be replaced and scorned.

[Lauralot]

I have never wanted anything less than AI in Firefox.  Why is the CEO so devoted to ruining what has previously been the Internet's best browser?

[ConsiderBirds]

Absolutely hate Firefox's AI update, because the first thing Anthony does is lie.
The FIRST thing he mentions about how he wants Firefox to move forward is that AI should be easily toggleable. Chasing down specific configurations, many of which I miss when updating different devices, in about:config is not what I'd call 'easily'.

Everytime someone (even a CEO who should know better) uses AI, they use it as a buzzword. Not actually describing what it does. 'AI powered browser' the most noticeable AI is when a search-engine uses it to summarize sources without giving them. Confidently giving someone's blog thatweirddreamwhen as an actual source. 

If I wanted confident and maybe even occasionally correct anwers, wikipedia is free.

Give people actual objectives of what you want AI to do - not just 'improvement'. I have yet to see this kind of AI give improvement, and I want something you can prove. The quickest way to eliminate doubt is to give proof, not nebulous promises of improvement.

('Everyone's doing it', have you ever researched the cause of the Dust Bowl, where improper farming practices caused a nationwide famine? Or like, read about everyone's favorite pesticide, DDT, which nearly caused the extinction of Bald Eagles? I'm digressing, but still - the average user of Firefox specifically does not use Chrome. The people you have to convince do not want Anthony's full confidence and vision, we want AI out or solid, irrefutable proof it's useful.) 

[TypoMary]

Yeah this is the opposite of Firefox's appeal. I use it for the privacy and lack of connection to Google. Oh well, there's other browsers.

[disco531]

I don't want an AI curated experience, I want water in the Colorado River. Throw your new CEO out a window.

[Indigorocks]

This new CEO is so out of touch. Firefox needs to stop trying to make AI palatable to its user base because they're making folks out of themselves. A majority of us use firefox to escape the AI bs on other browsers like Chrome. If they think users won't drop them over further AI integration then they have another thing comin 

[InvisibleSpork]

Oh come ON. The reason I still use firefox is specifically because it DOESN'T force AI slop on me. And the claim that they will always allow opt-out of AI does not fill me with confidence when right afterwards they say they want to turn firefox into an AI browser. I'm so tired of AI being shoe-horned into everything because executives are experiencing FOMO over a technology that, honestly, is going to pop the bubble. I miss when products did what they said and worked properly and didn't evaporate a lake of water every time I ran a search. My user experience has deteriorated so much since everybody jumped on this bandwagon.

[hacka]

I have been using Firefox for at least 15 years. I have happily recommended it to everyone in my life because it offered a genuinely good user experience, with a worthy mission statement.

Chasing the AI trend puts you on the path to throw all of that away. AI is the opposite of trustworthy. The AI companies themselves will acknowledge this if you really press on it - see OpenAI's privacy policy page, for example. And for Mozilla's bottom line... AI is horribly expensive to train and run. How are you going to pay for this? It'll come at a cost to the users, one way or another.

I can easily switch to a fork, but that's not accessible to everyone. It's the same reason why so many people use Edge, Chrome, or even IE back in the day. You're throwing out name recognition, goodwill and user experience for the sake of falling in line with the rest of big tech. Don't be a mindless follower.

[metalshop]

bad news, i went over to firefox in the first place to avoid this kind of trouble

[Vax]

The entire reason I use firefox is for it's lack of forced AI, it's privacy, and it's ad blocking ability. 

Changing to an AI slop model just to jump on the bandwagon and destroy the integrity of firefox as a whole is a disgusting and weak willed choice by the new CEO. It demonstrates a complete lack of care for the userbase as whole.

AI integration is a deeply unneeded addition and I will not hesitate to jump ship and never use firefox again. I hope the new CEO reverses course on his asinine idea of what he thinks would be best as he's clearly clueless about what he just got put in charge of and only sees dollar signs. He'll sink the company by force integration of the AI people are actively avoiding! 

NO ONE WANTS MORE AI SLOP.

[MrBeefgnaw]

Thanks! We hate it. 

Read the room, Anthony. Nobody wants AI slop in Firefox. 

[dom380]

People use firefox because it doesn't do this **bleep**. If the plan is to following in chrome's footsteps you're going to lose the majority of your users

[dragonkid11]

This is a complete brainrot of an idea that Mozilla is chasing here, no bloody AI allowed in my browser or computer or anywhere really

[Zakadi]

This is so stupid.  'AI' and 'Trust' are fundamentally incompatible and it means I'm probably now going to have to just use Waterfox since Firefox can't put a CEO in charge who isn't sniffing the farts of AI and insisting it's a rose.

All you have to do is say, 'Look, no ads!' and you'll win the Browser War on a long enough timeline.  Manifest V3 was Google shooting itself in the foot if you just lean into the fact that Firefox supports dynamic ad blocking, but your leadership is so incredibly stupid that they can't just take the Win without putting a bullet in their own foot as well.

I write this, knowing I'm shouting into the void.  Firefox hasn't listened to an ounce of real feedback for a decade, and I don't expect that to change.

Anyway, keep foot-gunning yourself I guess and maybe replace your awful CEO with AI as that might actually produce value instead of putting someone so out of touch with the world in that spot.

[seeMysmile]

Jesus really? I switched to Firefox expressly because it didn't use AI **bleep**ware. The last thing I want is to have to deal with this now to! **bleep**!

[Valk]

Love all the talk of transparency and letting the user control what the software is doing, right next to promises of turning firefox into an "AI browser" whatever that means.

Sure, complete transparency and control, buuut we're also going to feed your inputs to the opaque magic box that rolls a dice to decide how it responds to it.

[Devilpants]

No kidding. They talk big about transparency and user control, then hide the options to turn off the AI garbage in about:config, a menu that actively discourages users from even opening it and relies exclusively on external guides to know how to safely navigate and use.

[drcox]

You know what's sad? If we replaced this CEO with AI, and we told that AI "we don't want AI in the browser", it would actually listen to us.

[Silky]

Nobody who uses Firefox uses it for AI. Hell i switched over from Google Chrome to Firefox because I wanted better privacy and less AI bull**bleep**. And lo and behold the CEO of Firefox now wants to sell out and buy into the AI slopfest bull**bleep** going around. Not to mention how this goes directly against the Mozilla Manifesto.

[ReiA]

The CEO and other executives should have learned when, the moment AI "features" were added, posts telling people how to turn them off became popular.

Pivoting Firefox to an "AI Browser" (whatever that means) runs directly counter to all the other stated priorities. "AI" does not make money, so it will not help the bottom line. "AI" was built on theft and invasion of privacy, nor can it tell truth from lie; how does this help Mozilla become "the most trusted software company"?

How long before these "optional" features become so deeply embedded that they can't be turned off, or removed? How many software companies have promised that a feature will be maintained, or something will not be added, only to betray that promise?

This message already has me thinking of alternatives. I will switch if this course is not reversed.

[Silky]

I could not agree more. I too will be considering alternative browsers if Mozilla decides to adopt AI. Especially since it will mean that they have chosen following the so called popular trend of using AI in the hopes of more profit and abandoning their commitment to delivering on the promises of their manifesto.

[ioPOL]

Yeah, I'm out. I just started using Firefox this year because I was tired of Chrome's nonsense, and now this? I came for actual info privacy and control, not to be another AI farm. I have no trust in a company that favors trendy, ill-regulated tech over the feedback of its userbase.

[Jan_Caltrop]

I do not want any "AI" features in my browser; I don't trust it to do its intended job properly, even ASIDE from the fact that its "intended jobs" are often things I actively don't want. It's like... imagine a previously-vegetarian restaurant (where most of its customers are there BECAUSE it's vegetarian) not only hires someone to prepare meat dishes, but that person is incompetent and regularly burns the food setting off the smoke alarm.

[MrBeefgnaw]

Okay but you are (no pun intended... maybe 😏) cooking with this metaphor.

You've got a vegetarian restaurant that's famous for its great vegetarian dishes, and it has a huge customer base of vegetarian customers who bring their vegetarian friends, and business is great. But then a new general manager comes on board and he's read a lot of articles full of buzzwords like "leveraging bacon" and "tri-tip integration" and he decides that every dish needs to come with a single raw Sysco chicken nugget on the side. You know, to keep up with new technology. The raw chicken nugget is not in the vegetarian dish, he says. It's on a separate little plate. You don't have to eat it. You can even flag down a server and have it sent back to the kitchen. But the nasty raw nug will come to the table with everything you order, whether you want it or not. The restaurant loses some customers over this, but the food is still great and a lot of people just sigh and complain and send the nug back and enjoy the rest of the meal.

A week later, they start putting the raw nugget on the same plate as the vegetarian dish. You still don't have to eat it. You can wad it up in a napkin. But it's been on your plate with the food you're eating. And your food may have touched raw chicken nugget ick. Maybe enough to make you sick, maybe not, but a lot of customers decide they'd rather not risk it. The restaurant loses more customers, plus a sous chef and a few line cooks who got fired for saying "hey, we know a few things about food safety and we're telling you, we really shouldn't be serving raw chicken and we definitely shouldn't be serving raw chicken to vegetarian guests in a vegetarian restaurant."

The week after that, they just start mixing the raw nugs into every dish. Tableside, no less. You order a nice veggie curry and the server brings it to the table and just flops a big old scoop of raw Sysco chicken nuggets into it and stirs it up right in front of you. And then tells you that if you don't want the raw chicken, you can just pick it out. As if it's not sitting there leaching salmonella and who knows what else into your formerly vegetarian curry. 

Sure, there's going to be this weird faction of Raw Poultry Bros who choke down the raw Sysco chicken nuggets and tweet "how did we ever survive without raw mechanically separated chicken in every meal?" even as they're spending half their waking hours on the toilet. But most of the customers are going to go "yeah no I really don't want to eat raw chicken, that's gross," and they're going to start eating somewhere else, and any of the chefs and line cooks with any amount of knowledge and experience are going to go "yeah no we're not serving raw chicken, that's gross and dangerous" and they're going to jump ship and go to work for another restaurant.

We do not want the raw Sysco chicken nugget. At all.

[LowDown79385]

I've been using FireFox almost exclusively because it does not have anything AI that cannot be turned off.

I even have a custom browser that reroutes my searches to avoid AI summaries (using the udm=14 shortcut) and it's been working like a dream! I even use Firefox exclusively on my phone, despite having a perfectly good native browser, because it has this feature!

If Firefox begins to use AI in earnest, I will be immensely disappointed and stop using the browser entirely. I have no patience whatsoever for this. The AI 'let us summarize your browser groups' and other so-called 'features' were already pushing it, and I turned them off as soon as I was able.

[subtlety]

The new CEO has brought nothing but bs to the project. He needs to step down now. 

[EliasLeftFang]

I've been using Firefox for years now since Chrome went to hell and decided to stay there. Firefox was the Last Homely House in the current age of companies not listening to their customers on what we want, and I believe a LOT of us do not want new AI features scraping and leaking our data and bloating our search experience. I will be strongly considering switching browsers again if they decide to do this for real.

[subtlety]

They're already doing it. They've slipped AI features into recent updates that you need to disable manually through the about:config screen