Mozilla Firefox is adding new AI features this month, but you’ll have the option to turn it off, according to a Tuesday blog post from Firefox head Ajit Varma.
“AI is changing the web, and people are looking for very different things from it,” Varma wrote in the post. “Listening to our community, and our continued commitment to providing choice, led us to create AI controls.”
Varma said in a November blog post that Mozilla plans to expand Firefox’s AI features. This includes i An AI chatbot sidebar and AI-powered shortcuts. But in this new post, Varma said that most people don’t want anything about AI, so Mozilla will include a button to turn off AI in the latest update.
A Mozilla spokesperson told CNET that Firefox is making its AI features optional, transparent and easy to control or turn off completely. “The goal is always the best browsing experience, which puts people in control of how they use the web and AI, as it is so common across the web,” a spokesperson said via email.
The new version of Firefox, 148, will be live on desktops in Feb. 24. A Mozilla spokesperson clarified that the new version will be desktop-only, saying “we’re focused on getting information before expanding further. We’re paying close attention to early feedback and using what you learn to inform what’s next.”
Artificial intelligence is all over the internet these days, and the new version of the Firefox browser with AI features joins other leading browsers that have decided to integrate AI. Apple’s Safari and Microsoft Edge both offer AI features.
Firefox includes AI
With approximately 200 million users per month, Firefox, owned by the Mozilla Foundation, is the largest non-profit supported Internet browser. When the updated version of Firefox comes out this month, people will find a new menu in settings with toggles for each AI feature, allowing them to turn any or all AI options on and off.
Erik Avakian, a technology consultant at Info-Tech Research Group and the former chief security officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, says that Mozilla’s decision to add AI controls shows that it understands how much AI is changing Firefox in terms of privacy and trust.
“It ensures that AI browser features, even assistive ones, can introduce real privacy, security, and compatibility considerations,” Avakian said. “The difference is that Mozilla chooses to introduce and implement these types of controls early on, while others force the conversation by moving too quickly with AI and breaking trust.”
This new Firefox will add AI to standard internet browsing in many ways. The user changes Varma talked about in his post would turn off AI language translation, PDF alt text, tab grouping suggestions, link preview shortcuts, and a chat sidebar, which also allows people to select a specific chatbot, such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini.
In a July blog post, Mozilla AI product lead Jolie Huang explained Firefox’s stance on AI and emphasized a primary focus on privacy. Huang laid out the AI features coming to Firefox and wrote about privacy, a key feature of the browser for a long time.
“Our ongoing commitment to maintaining AI privacy drives us to continue to develop and improve features that respect and protect your information,” Huang wrote. “At Firefox, AI is about creating a smarter, more intuitive browsing experience that improves productivity without sacrificing privacy.”
You can try the AI features early using Firefox Nightly, an improved version of Firefox that is not stable and is updated daily.
