How Firefox is trying to ride the AI wave
The browser is still searching for its place in the age of GenAI
By integrating Perplexity AI’s search engine last month, Firefox took another step toward generative AI. Yet the browser is not “going to change its core because of AI,” says Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, its General Manager. With new competitors emerging around chatbots, such as OpenAI’s Atlas, he says Mozilla is exploring “different ways” to meet certain users’ expectations — but promises a cautious approach.
For good reason: while he acknowledges that web browser user experiences have changed little in recent years, mostly limited to minor innovations, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo is unsure whether this new way of surfing the internet will catch on. He points to “a much narrower view of the web,” reduced to providing a single answer to a query. He also questions the economic viability: given the costs, these browsers could eventually rely on paid offerings.
Plummeting market share
Launched in 2004, Firefox now finds itself at a crossroads. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation can take comfort in keeping the roughly $500 million Google pays it annually. But the browser continues to lose market share: just 2.2%, according to StatCounter estimates. This is far from the 32% peak reached in November 2009, when Firefox shook Microsoft’s near-monopoly with Internet Explorer.
Since then, Firefox has felt the full force of Chrome’s meteoric rise, launched by Google in 2008. Mozilla still claims around 200 million users — “people who have chosen not to use the default browser on their devices,” notes Anthony Enzor-DeMeo. A significant handicap compared with Google, Apple, and even Microsoft, despite the introduction of browser choice screens in Europe, allowing users to select their browser when first using a smartphone or tablet.
AI already in Firefox
For Firefox, AI could also be a new threat. Three new rivals have launched since summer. In addition to OpenAI, Perplexity unveiled its Comet browser, preceded by The Browser Company startup a few weeks earlier. Firefox has anticipated this shift, allowing users to open the chatbot of their choice in a sidebar. But the integration remains limited: it cannot analyze page content or take control of the browser, as Atlas does.
Anthony Enzor-DeMeo says he is open to “deeper integration” of AI within the browser to address these gaps through partnerships. But he warns that such evolution raises privacy concerns and cost uncertainties, as some features, like summarizing a web page, cannot be performed locally. “For certain experiences, it may be inevitable to pass the costs on to users,” he cautions.
Can Firefox benefit from AI ?
In this coming battle, Mozilla believes it has a card to play. Unlike most of its rivals, the foundation does not develop its own language model, meaning it has “no incentive to push a proprietary solution,” says Anthony Enzor-DeMeo. Firefox users can thus choose between classic browsing and an AI-enhanced experience, while remaining free to select — and switch — chatbots without changing browsers.
But Firefox also faces challenges. Its brand awareness has been declining for years, particularly because it is almost absent on mobile — a trend difficult to reverse. And if the sector is truly disrupted, it seems more likely to benefit OpenAI or Perplexity, which already have a user base for their AI services. Not to mention that user habits change slowly, and many Chrome or Safari users are closely tied to the Google or Apple ecosystems.