Mozilla leadership are quite literally ex-google and current google loyalists, who are paid to create the appearance of a competitive browser landscape for regulators, judges, and lawmakers who started out obtuse and are now increasingly openly bribed.
Mozilla's job is to go through the motions of competing for regulatory obfuscation, not to ever actually compete. That's why the salaries at this non-profit keep going up as Mozilla marketshare keeps going down.
If they wanted to actually compete they could integrate with LMStudio or similar to give their non-technical users locally running open models, that would be maximally opt-in and privacy preserving. It wouldn't even take that long.
Instead, we get another resume-padding fake "product" for someone to put on their resume before it's quietly forgotten, all for a browser with 3% marketshare and plummeting.
Their announcement does not reveal much, perhaps signing up will reveal more. But I am hesitant to do that since I don't even know if I want this feature.
On the other hand, are they even listening to their users or are they just adding AI to everything?
How many more obscure lines will I need to add to my prefs to shut the AI Window up, even if it's "opt in"? How many lines are we up to now to defang the browser?
The "built for choice and control" messaging is interesting timing given how most AI tools are going the opposite direction - trying to be everything to everyone with complex configuration screens.
I've been thinking about this a lot while building in the productivity AI space. Most tools I've tried require you to set up elaborate workflows, connect 12 different services, and spend weeks tweaking prompts. The cognitive overhead defeats the purpose.
What's compelling about Firefox's approach (if they execute well) is that browser-level AI could actually understand context better than bolt-on solutions. Your browsing patterns, form fills, research sessions - there's rich signal there that doesn't require you to explicitly configure anything.
I got early access to ungrind.ai which takes a similar philosophy for email/meeting productivity - zero configuration, just connects to Gmail and starts working. The technical challenge is making the AI smart enough to infer intent without explicit rules, but when it works, the UX is so much cleaner.
The real test will be whether Firefox can resist feature creep. "Built for choice and control" sounds great until product managers start adding dozens of toggles and options.
Anyone know if they're planning to expose APIs for developers to build on top of their AI layer?
The page says this thing will be opt-in. As it also says, they can't ignore the effect AI is having in the world. I'm not much of a fan of a lot of this effect, but see some benefits in places.
They could ignore it. Why not? I switched from Chrome to FF and FF hard-locks 3x a day for me now. Force quit, start over. Is an AI window going to stop me going back to Chrome? Who cares if FF has an AI window if FF is too janky to be a good web browser... It's just lipstick on a pig.
That's not normal, and certainly not a typical reason people avoid Firefox. Have you given it a try and investigated if this is solvable? Sounds like one of those issues that if you ignore, it'll just pop up elsewhere with some other program.
Mozilla leadership are quite literally ex-google and current google loyalists, who are paid to create the appearance of a competitive browser landscape for regulators, judges, and lawmakers who started out obtuse and are now increasingly openly bribed.
Mozilla's job is to go through the motions of competing for regulatory obfuscation, not to ever actually compete. That's why the salaries at this non-profit keep going up as Mozilla marketshare keeps going down.
If they wanted to actually compete they could integrate with LMStudio or similar to give their non-technical users locally running open models, that would be maximally opt-in and privacy preserving. It wouldn't even take that long.
Instead, we get another resume-padding fake "product" for someone to put on their resume before it's quietly forgotten, all for a browser with 3% marketshare and plummeting.
kayfabe competition.
Much like Americas regulatory and soon to be administrative.
There’s no info on what the AI does? Or where the AI runs? Or anything really?
Is it just Mozilla testing the waters with the announcement?
Their announcement does not reveal much, perhaps signing up will reveal more. But I am hesitant to do that since I don't even know if I want this feature.
On the other hand, are they even listening to their users or are they just adding AI to everything?
How many more obscure lines will I need to add to my prefs to shut the AI Window up, even if it's "opt in"? How many lines are we up to now to defang the browser?
The "built for choice and control" messaging is interesting timing given how most AI tools are going the opposite direction - trying to be everything to everyone with complex configuration screens.
I've been thinking about this a lot while building in the productivity AI space. Most tools I've tried require you to set up elaborate workflows, connect 12 different services, and spend weeks tweaking prompts. The cognitive overhead defeats the purpose.
What's compelling about Firefox's approach (if they execute well) is that browser-level AI could actually understand context better than bolt-on solutions. Your browsing patterns, form fills, research sessions - there's rich signal there that doesn't require you to explicitly configure anything.
I got early access to ungrind.ai which takes a similar philosophy for email/meeting productivity - zero configuration, just connects to Gmail and starts working. The technical challenge is making the AI smart enough to infer intent without explicit rules, but when it works, the UX is so much cleaner.
The real test will be whether Firefox can resist feature creep. "Built for choice and control" sounds great until product managers start adding dozens of toggles and options.
Anyone know if they're planning to expose APIs for developers to build on top of their AI layer?
Mozilla still doesn't get it.
Get what?
The page says this thing will be opt-in. As it also says, they can't ignore the effect AI is having in the world. I'm not much of a fan of a lot of this effect, but see some benefits in places.
They could ignore it. Why not? I switched from Chrome to FF and FF hard-locks 3x a day for me now. Force quit, start over. Is an AI window going to stop me going back to Chrome? Who cares if FF has an AI window if FF is too janky to be a good web browser... It's just lipstick on a pig.
> FF hard-locks 3x a day for me now
That's not normal, and certainly not a typical reason people avoid Firefox. Have you given it a try and investigated if this is solvable? Sounds like one of those issues that if you ignore, it'll just pop up elsewhere with some other program.
Damned if they do AI, damned if they don't.
>FF hard-locks 3x a day for me now.
I've never had this problem. Which OS do you run?
They’re still being paid hundreds of millions yearly to not get it.
So, unsurprising.
"The web is changing, and sitting it out doesn’t help anyone."
Does this just mean "the basilisk is coming and we want to make sure we're seen serving it"
I remember when some browsers made social networking modes or crypto/web3 modes, they all disappeared quickly.
Blog post: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/ai-window/
and a response discussion:
I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45926779
It's an announcement of an announcement of a GUI element.
Welcome to zombo.com. You can do anything at zombo.com
this is the single most underrated website ever LOL
Wat is an AI window?
That's part of the marketing tease... sign up to find out, or move on if you're not interested. Or get the pitchforks if you hate being teased.