Firefox has long established itself as a credible alternative
to dominant browsers , focusing on transparency, data protection and adherence to web standards.
With the arrival of
Anthony Enzor-DeMeo at the head of Mozilla Corporation, the browser is nevertheless embarking on a deliberate strategic shift: becoming a ”
modern AI browser “.
Mozilla is embracing a shift towards a “trusted” AI browser
In a post published on the official Mozilla blog , Anthony Enzor-DeMeo details his vision for the next three years. Firefox remains the heart of the ecosystem , but should evolve into a platform enhanced by artificial intelligence to build a suite of software centered on trust.
Mozilla insists, however, on a guiding principle, and affirms that AI will never be imposed . All features must remain optional, deactivated with a single click, and understandable to the user.
An optional ” AI window ” has already been introduced, allowing users to freely choose the AI model used for navigation. According to Mozilla, this is a way to differentiate itself from the more closed approaches of Google, Microsoft, or Opera, which integrate their assistants by default.
Performance, fuel consumption and initial technical missteps
In practice, the initial experiments did not convince everyone. Indeed, Mozilla had already attempted to integrate AI to automatically organize open tabs .
While the promise of processing without sending data to the cloud was appealing, the execution left its mark, with high resource consumption , overheating and plummeting battery life on laptops.
Unfortunately, the result was not unanimously praised either . The ranking suggestions proved inaccurate, and for some in the community, these technical choices give the impression of an AI integrated to follow a trend , rather than to meet a concrete need.
A growing rift with the historical community
The official announcement of the project sparked a backlash on Reddit and specialized forums. Some users explained that they chose Firefox precisely to escape the omnipresence of algorithms and chatbots . Meanwhile, the promise of a ” disableable ” AI is seen as an admission, suggesting that if the argument needs to be repeated, it’s perhaps because the demand isn’t there .
Between the quest for new revenue streams to reduce dependence on Google , the competitive pressure from AI browsers like ChatGPT Atlas , and fidelity to its DNA, Mozilla is now walking a fine line under the watchful, and sometimes worried, gaze of its own community…