Mozilla tests AI integration in Firefox
Mozilla wants to integrate AI into the Firefox browser. Users can choose for themselves whether and which ones are used.
(Image: Sundry Photography/Shutterstock.com)
The Mozilla Foundation is planning to introduce AI support in Firefox. The service is to be opt-in and offer users many options. The artificial intelligence used can be selected and Firefox is not limited to just one provider.
In a blog post on the Mozilla. website, the authors explain how the IT services in Firefox can be tried out. The function will soon be included in the experimental nightly builds of the web browser.
(Image: Mozilla)
The AI chatbot will be integrated as a further development of the browser sidebar, which can be displayed next to the website. The first trials allow users to add a chatbot of their choice to the sidebar. This can be accessed quickly while browsing.
Useful AI functions - optional
As an example of useful functions that are available right from the start, the Mozilla developers mention the highlighting of text on websites and the function to summarize the text, translate it into simpler language - according to the developers, practical for answering the usual children's question "Why?" - or have the chatbot create a test to query knowledge. This can be called up directly via the context menu that appears after a right-click.
To activate the AI functions, interested parties must activate the "AI Chatbot Integration" option in the settings under "Nightly Experiments". ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, HuggingChat and Le Chat Mistral are available for selection at the start. The "Ask chatbot" context menu is then available. To keep access to the sidebar permanently active, simply select "Customize toolbar" after right-clicking on the toolbar and then dragging the sidebar icon there.
The AI experiment should first mature before it flows into the beta and finally release channels. Therefore, all integrated AI chatbot models are still being optimized. To this end, the developers are asking for feedback from testers. Advanced testers will also be able to integrate their own prompts and compatible chatbots into the nightly builds in future. Mozilla cites llamafile, which works with open source models, as an example. Testers can exchange information about prompts, chatbots and models in the community. The developers are also looking into how they can implement an easy-to-set-up version of a private, completely local chatbot as an alternative to the third-party models.
A cautious approach to the new technology
In an accompanying blog post, the Mozilla developers are emphatically critical of AI, which is why they prefer the opt-in variant and the individual selection of the chatbot used. In another blog post, they also write that AI integration began earlier in the month. A locally running AI can create ALT texts for images in PDFs. The local AI is intended to ensure that users' data remains private. The function should ultimately help users of screen readers in particular, who will be able to understand images that would not be accessible to them without the function.
The nightly builds of Firefox can be downloaded from the Mozilla website. At the time of reporting, the AI function could not yet be activated in the Windows version.
Other web browsers have also been relying on AI integration for some time. Brave, for example, has an AI assistant on offer, AI support should be available in Google's Chrome, for example as a typing aid, and Microsoft is of course also stuffing AI support into the Edge web browser.
(dmk)
