Mozilla is asking for your opinion about what it's doing, and the survey appears to be aimed at getting you used to the idea that "AI" will become an integral focus area.
I told them that I want Mozilla to focus SOLELY on improving Firefox and Thunderbird, with zero AI in the product.
@dangillmor Librewolf.
@dangillmor and Google chrome?
@dangillmor
I told them in the section at the end to remove the dangerously inaccurate AI junk.
@dangillmor After the survey they have the face to ask for donations... I'll start donating once they add back the “We do not sell your data" promise back.
@dangillmor did the same. Hope they listen
@dangillmor
All this and they could have just put more money towards Pocket.
@dangillmor There's a difference between 'stop AI development' and 'remove AI'.
You won't find AI in #Vivaldi, nor in the future. Why fight for a browser to stop something when there's already one doing the thing you want?
@dangillmor Not having AI in my system and apps is a feature in itself in 2026.
@dangillmor Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Some AI is useful.
The fundamental issue is how to prevent companies to become greedy to collect personal data, and mostly how do they use them.
But AI, in general, is good.
@dangillmor I can't find a link to this from the Mozilla site. Do you have a reliable source?
@Gargron @dangillmor Why nobody mentioned SeaMonkey on the first place? You are responsible for all that you've done
@dangillmor Waymo but for internet.
A web browser should render HTML. That's all it should do. It shouldn't have built-in AI, that's extension territory for people who want this sort of thing. It shouldn't pretend to be an operating system either, btw.
@Gargron @dangillmor D-did they forgot about SeaMonkey, that successor to the ye-old Mozilla application suite?
@Gargron @dangillmor What even about SeaMonkey?
@dangillmor Took it. Thanks. I wrote:
Keep a hype-fueled bias toward AI programming and search from ruining Firefox and Thunderbird. Ensure all AI in these products can be turned completely and easily off, and default to off.
@dangillmor I want Mozilla to be commited to software freedom and make sure the core products works great and are market leading.
@dangillmor opinion, SUBMITTED!!
@dangillmor in case anybody needs anything for the freeform box at the end, here's what I said:
I want to see Mozilla remove AI from its products, and start trying to regain all the user trust it has lost by adding AI to its products.
@dangillmor
Isn't their default search still Google? That's AI enough as far as I'm concerned. 😖
@dangillmor I submitted my answers, but it feels somewhat futile.
Watch Mozilla spin these answers like "We see that the most important topic for you is improving user privacy. That's why we'll be partnering with [insert shady AI company] who are leveraging agentic AI workflows for enhancing privacy!"
@dangillmor Done. Thank you for sharing this.
I (basically) said no to any more generative AI "features." While some machine learning features - spell check, translation, etc. - are often helpful, no-one wants generative AI slop that's marketed as a feature.
The thing is they don't care
And there nothing we can to drop the actual board
@dangillmor
Same! Thank you for pointing out the survey.
@dangillmor ditto! I took the time to do this too despite suspecting it will prove to be a small waste of time in result. Thank you for sharing!
@dangillmor
Mozilla had a mission. It got harder, so they gave up and started pursuing easier goals.
I'd like to think it can be redirected, but this seems deeply embedded in its culture now. Looking for a reason to believe.
@dangillmor @nycki holy fuck they’ve gone right off the deep end.
Browser software has that annoying manner of the AI Talkie Toaster in Red Dwarf.
Constantly asking you if you want toast, refusing to shut up about toast, and thinking every issue is resolved with more toast.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec
The constant importuning has grown especially irritating because it makes awful toast.
AI generated code is like asbestos in the walls, to be dug out as technical debt for decades.
It made Google search useless.
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/useless-google-ai-overview-reddit/
@dangillmor thankfully major forks of mozilla - Zen (my choice), LibreWolf and Floorp (great browser, not so great - in my opinion - name) have openly rejected AI and removed it from their software.
@dangillmor
If they want AI, they can offer it as an extension.
I'm more of the "use these money to improve the browser" and I'm not AI user (indeed, I'm agaisnt the actual abuse of the LLMs), but if they can offer AI not on default or bloating a FF basic installation...
@dangillmor nah man, fuck mozilla. ladybird browser engine is just around the corner. and with it, it's time for google and mozilla to take a back seat and watch what it feels like when people get what they actually want, leaving their services.
#ladybird for 2026!
What Mozilla is doing is “sugging.” It’s the term used for sales messages dressed up as research and is outlawed in proper research. It is about as dishonest as you can get in your sales message.
@DziadekMick @dangillmor
Seems like upsetting users by demonstrating that you don't actually listen to their feedback might have the potential to backfire as marketing, but...what do I know?
This is the most hilarious marketing goof I’ve seen. Some marketing wisdom says if you engage with customers and elicit information andopinions, they will become more loyal. But the caveat was that you must never show that you haven’t taken it on board; immediate loss of customer. Someone applied that to online marketing with the “How did we do?” bounce-back. Which instantly demonstrated they weren’t listening to replies. All these companies became frauds and mistrusted.
@dangillmor Ai is fine if it's used locally like their LLM local translation feature. I've been using it for many months, mostly to translate German webpages and it workes great. All local!
What I don't understand is the use of it as chatbots and other similar remote nonsense. Like, why?
@dangillmor if you look at the alternatives, Vivaldi made the conscious decision to exclude AI and focus on the actual product (browser) instead. And people seem to dig it.
@dangillmor I've swapped to Waterfox instead, and it's been a good decision.
@dangillmor thank you! Did the same
@dangillmor The last question reads: "What is most important to you in AI?" And the suggested answers are so out of touch: "Leveraging AI to help address societal issues such as racial justice, climate justice, gender justice, etc." Are you kidding, Mozilla? 😲
@dangillmor done. Thanks for sharing.
@dangillmor more and more sites only work or work far faster in chromium. And instead of campaigning for free and open web standards and improving gecko they instead are seemingly only interested in adding AI.
The majority of their users continue to tell them we don’t want AI, and will leave for a fork. They ignore us, and invest more resources into AI.
I can’t even get friends to switch to Firefox anymore, as chromium is faster and better supported. They don’t share my beliefs for a free web that isn’t completely Google chromium, they just want something that works.
It feels as if the battle is lost.
@joelh Chromium broke the best ad/tracker blocker, unfortunately...
@dangillmor LOL, exactly. Who even asked for AI in Firefox? Just focus on stability and speed, and everyone will be happy
@dangillmor done the survey and advising against any AI crap
It's beyond me how anyone could ever trust Mozilla with anything, including taking a questionnaire.
@dangillmor
I use Mozilla as one of my browsers. My answer to most of the survey questions was to answer no AI.
Over 900 responses told them the same in response to this "Mozilla Connect" post in November:
A number of us made accounts on this forum solely to tell them we weren't interested in AI (often using less polite words)
![[ Sha ]](https://s3.c.im/accounts/avatars/115/905/134/385/239/308/original/a5bb3ae9584b496d.png "[ Sha ]")
