GoKawiilWhen Mozilla announced that its Firefox browser would have a built-in artificial intelligence kill switch, it separated itself from the crowd of tech giants eagerly adding an onslaught of AI features to every online experience.
Mozilla CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo says it became apparent to him when he stepped into the role in December that the Firefox community was demanding the ability to turn off the browser's AI features entirely.
"Our community was pretty vocal, especially during the CEO announcement, that not everyone wanted [AI]," he told me in an interview. "At its core, we want to listen to our users, and they were vocal. ... It was honestly on the roadmap, but I expedited it, given the community feedback."
But the AI kill switch, which is now available on mobile as well as desktop, has been flipped by just 1% of Firefox users to turn off AI completely. And it's being partially used by just 3% to turn off some AI features in the browser.
Enzor-DeMeo notes that tools including AI translations have value that people want to keep. The important differentiator in Firefox is that there's a choice, he says, pointing to Microsoft defaulting to Copilot when you search on a Windows desktop and Google installing large AI models on people's computers without notifying them.
"I think there's a general user sentiment of, 'hey, I didn't ask for that, and I didn't choose that.' The great thing about Firefox is ... we offer choice," he says.
Enzor-DeMeo also spoke to me about Firefox's new Smart Window, its built-in VPN, privacy concerns in the age of AI and the browser's fresh redesign launching in the fall with an aim of keeping the internet open and fair.
Firefox Smart Window: BYO AI
Switch from a classic browser window to an AI-powered Smart Window on Firefox in beta. Mozilla
Smart Window, which is available in beta now, allows you to choose which AI model to use on Firefox, as well as enabling you to bring your own AI models to use in the browser.
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