Try Out Perplexity AI Search in Firefox 139!

[gpendse]

Hi everyone,

I’m Gayatri, the product manager for Firefox Search. With Firefox, you already have more choice in how you search the web than anywhere else — and now, we’re giving you even more.

You've told us you want an AI search partner —  so we're launching an experiment with Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine. If you're in the US, UK, or Germany, you may see it as an option in the address bar via the unified search button, which allows quick switching between search engines in Firefox. 

Why Perplexity?

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that offers direct, conversational answers to your questions — so you don’t have to dig through pages of results. It’s especially helpful when:

• ✅ You want quick, concise answers without getting lost in multiple sources
  
  
• 📚 You’re researching or learning and need accurate, well-cited information
  
  
• ✍️ You’re working on creative or technical content, like blog posts or code snippets
  

This pilot is part of our broader goal to give users more choice when it comes to how they search — and which tools they trust to help them get things done. If the experience is positive, we may look to support more AI answers or search options in the future. Just a heads up: when you use a search provider in Firefox, you’re also agreeing to their privacy and policy terms. Every provider is a little different, so if you’re curious, feel free to check out Perplexity’s policy here. Perplexity maintains strict prohibitions against selling or sharing personal data and only processes information for the specific purposes outlined in its user agreements.

Help Us Get It Right

You can switch between different search or answer engines depending on what you’re looking for — and we’d love your feedback on where Perplexity stands out. Are there specific types of searches — like complex questions, summaries, how-tos, or creative prompts—where it gives you a better answer? Are there cases where a traditional search engine is your preferred choice instead?

Your input will help us understand when Perplexity adds real value, so we can surface it at the right moments and make the overall search experience in Firefox even more useful.

Thanks for being part of this journey with us. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

[puddy]

Read the room - the thinking person is totally against Ai. No one who matters wants another LLM ffs. 

[at2]

Did not ask for it, do not want it and worst of all there's no method to get rid of it.  How much cash is Perplexity shoveling your way to make somthing very un-Firefox like this?

[wormius]

When I say I do not want AI in my browser, it also means in my search bar.  I said this in a comment on forums, but here is a better spot. 

Just so you know I am about this close to leaving forever.  So many years of "better to ask forgiveness than permission" and here you have ASKED permission and still seem to think we just don't want features, but it's ok to put "AI POWERED" search engines in.  I do not want AI, I do not have to fight every single time you shove one more AI anti-feature in every little crack.

Just letting you know that you are going to continue losing users with this sort of practice.  It's sad, it really is, and I have defended FF over the years through all the poor choices, and this may be the worst of all, because it feels like you're trying to be sneaky about this, (let's get AI in through a different route).  I shouldn't have to constantly be looking for little changes like this every single release by what appears to be a user-hostile corporation at this point.

I am sorry to sound angry, but it really does feel like you don't want users unless we bow to what you want, while glossing it up as "user choice".  You know it gets very tiring.  Opt IN not OUT. PLEASE.

[wormius]

Also - I just de-set google, because I do not want to give you more revenue for clicks from them at this point.  It's bad enough google does AI, but this inserting perplexity without my consent (in fact AGAINST my anti-AI consent) means you don't deserve more eyeball revenue from Google.  I'm not sure why I don't just leave now.  This is the only place I can seem to contact you because not everybody uses AI TECH BRO Musk's personal egostrokeblog(twitter).