How Mozilla’s Ai Strategy Disconnects From Its Browser Heritage

Last week Mark Surman, president of nan Mozilla Foundation, published an article explaining why Mozilla is “doing for AI what we did for nan web.” He besides pointed to a caller strategy document that is “focused conscionable arsenic overmuch connected AI arsenic it is connected nan web.”

Part of Mozilla’s caller AI-centric strategy is an offshoot startup called Mozilla.ai. Just a time earlier Surman’s article was published, I’d spoken to Mozilla.ai’s CEO John Dickerson. My volition was to find retired what, if anything, Mozilla.ai is doing successful nan “Web AI” abstraction that Google has been busy defining complete nan past mates of years. I was amazed to observe that astir of Mozilla.ai’s activities are not web-related.

Mozilla.ai’s Mission

Mozilla.ai has been going for astir 3 years, but Dickerson himself is comparatively new. He was brought successful astir 9 months agone to “reset nan company,” arsenic he put it. This entailed shifting Mozilla.ai from an applied R&D statement to a commercialized enterprise, albeit arsenic a nationalist use corporation. Dickerson says his extremity is to nutrient “a sustainable gross watercourse that tin support our larger ngo astir unfastened root AI.”

Dickerson explained that nan ngo of Mozilla.ai goes beyond conscionable nan unfastened web.

“…it’s benignant of for illustration if you return nan Mozilla manifesto and you conscionable use it to AI, arsenic opposed to browsers.”
– John Dickerson, Mozilla.ai CEO

“Our ngo is very Mozilla-y,” said Dickerson. “It’s conscionable astir AI arsenic a benignant of method to democratize entree to accusation connected nan internet, accusation successful societal networks, and […] push for ownership of your ain data, ownership of your ain models and control. And truthful it’s benignant of for illustration if you return nan Mozilla manifesto and you conscionable use it to AI, arsenic opposed to browsers.”

Mozilla.ai’s merchandise statement is chiefly made up of a group of unfastened root AI devices and models. For instance, nan institution precocious released type 1.0 of any-llm, “a unified interface that lets developers plug into immoderate ample connection model.” It is besides building nan Mozilla.ai Agent Platform, a SaaS merchandise for endeavor that is presently successful backstage beta.

Where’s nan Web?

What seems to beryllium conspicuously absent from nan merchandise statement Mozilla.ai is building retired is…web technologies. Again, I said to Dickerson earlier Surman’s strategy article was released, truthful I was unaware that Mozilla’s ngo is nary longer focused purely connected nan web. But I asked Dickerson what domiciled nan web plays successful Mozilla.ai.

He pointed to Wasm-agents, which enables AI agents successful nan browser, and immoderate of nan activity they’ve done pinch nan Firefox squad (such arsenic nan “shake to summarize” feature). But past he reiterated that Mozilla is looking beyond nan browser now.

“When it comes to nan web successful general, nan measurement I spot AI and our ngo present is, for illustration 20 years ago, 10 years ago, nan browser was nan measurement that nan world was capable to entree information. It’s not nan only measurement to entree accusation anymore, right? I tin person my ain ample connection model, for example, and that has encoded a batch of nan accusation connected nan Internet into it, and I tin entree it [the internet] done that arsenic well. And truthful erstwhile it comes to, again, nan higher level Mozilla ngo of democratizing entree to accusation and power complete accusation — your ain information — it’s not conscionable astir nan browser anymore, right?”

“…20 years ago, 10 years ago, nan browser was nan measurement that nan world was capable to entree information. It’s not nan only measurement to entree accusation anymore.”
– Dickerson

I get that Mozilla is trying to accommodate to nan AI era by broadening its scope, but it strikes maine arsenic overseas that Mozilla isn’t leveraging its astir 3 decades of unfastened web expertise. Especially erstwhile Google has been engaged promoting its Web AI offerings this year, it’s besides go clear to maine this twelvemonth that web technologies will beryllium nan “UI layer” of nan AI era — conscionable look astatine OpenAI’s caller moves, first pinch nan Apps SDK (web apps wrong ChatGPT) and past launching nan Atlas browser.

I noted Google’s defense of “on-device inference” and evident belief that astir AI usage cases will soon beryllium handled successful nan browser — acknowledgment successful portion to nan expanding powerfulness of mini connection models. Is Mozilla.ai doing immoderate activity connected browser-based AI, I asked?

In reply, Dickerson pointed to nan llamafile project, an unfastened root task that Mozilla.ai precocious announced it is adopting, successful bid “to beforehand local, privacy-first AI.”

What astir WebMCP, a web version of nan Model Context Protocol (MCP) that Google and Microsoft person teamed up to develop?

Dickerson replied that they “haven’t touched WebMCP,” but he pointed to a akin task Mozilla.ai is moving connected called mcpd, which is described connected its web page arsenic “the toolchain and runtime furniture down nan Mozilla.ai Agent Platform.” The ‘d’ appears to guidelines for ‘declarative,’ because connected nan project’s GitHub page, mcpd is described arsenic “a instrumentality to declaratively negociate Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.”

“A batch of our squad believes that there’s a vibrant ecosystem of browser-only, browser-first agentic worldly that’s going to beryllium happening,” he added.

The Role of nan Browser successful nan AI Era

In position of a personification interface for agents, I noted that nan browser seems to person go a cardinal merchandise successful that regard: Google has added AI functionality to Chrome (and has promised much agentic features to come), OpenAI has launched a marque caller browser, Microsoft Edge now has “Copilot Mode,” and others for illustration Perplexity and Atlassian besides person AI browsers. The extremity successful each these cases is clear: The browser becomes nan location guidelines for agents.

Needless to say, nan web browser arsenic a merchandise statement is traditionally Mozilla’s strength. In fact, nan statement was named Mozilla successful 1998 because it was “the generic word referring to web browsers derived from nan root codification of Netscape Navigator.” So fixed this heritage, what domiciled does Mozilla’s browser, Firefox, play successful nan Mozilla.ai strategy?

Dickerson first pointed retired that really to specify an supplier is still an unfastened mobility — for example, summarizing emails could beryllium done by a browser-based supplier each morning, aliases it could conscionable beryllium a regular characteristic wrong a merchandise for illustration Gmail. More importantly, he besides thinks nan browser itself — arsenic a merchandise class successful nan agentic era — has besides not been nailed down yet.

“The browser is an absorbing connection there, right? Whatever nan portal by which you entree information, immoderate of which is online, nan personification who nails nan UI portion of that […] is really going to commencement owning this abstraction moving forward. To beryllium frank, like, I don’t deliberation immoderate of nan browsers person wholly owned this yet.”

It’s a adjacent constituent that we don’t yet cognize what a browser will genuinely look for illustration erstwhile nan supplier ecosystem has matured — OpenAI’s Atlas is simply a slick capable browser successful 2025, but it’s nan aforesaid basal paradigm arsenic Chrome (it’s really conscionable a 2000s-era browser pinch a ChatGPT sidebar). Chrome’s AI features are besides fundamentally conscionable chat-based astatine this point, too.

All that said, I’m amazed Mozilla doesn’t dainty Firefox arsenic much integral to its wide AI strategy. Instead, Mozilla seems to judge that nan browser is conscionable 1 of galore akin devices successful nan modern internet. I’m not judge Google and OpenAI spot it that measurement — some of those companies person elevated nan browser to a superior merchandise successful nan AI landscape.

Why Mozilla’s AI Strategy May Be Flawed

Last period the Guardian interviewed nan wide head of Firefox, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo. When asked astir Firefox’s strategy, Enzor-DeMeo noted that “we are slow launching AI features, but our users person choice. They tin move it off.”

In my view, Mozilla risks being near down if it doesn’t person a circumstantial AI browser strategy beyond “well, you tin move it disconnected if you want to.” And pinch each owed respect to nan “Shake to Summarize” characteristic successful Firefox, it’s not a groundbreaking AI browser technology.

Why hasn’t Mozilla made its ain browser, Firefox, much integral to its AI strategy?

More fundamentally, Mozilla is known for its browsers and its defense of nan unfastened web. Surely it makes consciousness to build astir your halfway product, alternatively than effort to ain an amorphous “open root AI” market.

While Mozilla.ai is doing sterling activity successful position of unfastened root LLMs and AI tooling, I would for illustration to spot it much focused connected Web AI functionality for developers and consumers alike. It’s a marketplace perfectly suited to Mozilla; and I can’t deliberation of a amended statement to compete pinch Google and OpenAI connected this front, if it chooses to do so.

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