Mozilla's Ajit Varma on user control, concentration risk, and why the open web needs an independent engine.
Source material: techradar.com
Firefox is taking a phased, user-controlled approach to AI. Features like summarisation, translation, and tab organisation are optional, and a single setting blocks all current and future generative AI features. Users can manage each capability individually, choosing to keep some and disable others, which is what Mozilla's AI Controls make possible. Firefox is model-agnostic, meaning users can pick their own AI providers, switch to local on-device models, or opt out entirely. According to Ajit Varma, Mozilla's head of Firefox, only a small minority of users actually disable AI features, but those users regularly say they value knowing the controls are there. This balance rests on giving people meaningful control over what data is shared and how AI assists them, so privacy and convenience coexist on the user's terms.
In 2026, the open web means preserving common standards and interoperability so that developers can build without asking permission from a dominant platform, and users can choose how they access the internet rather than being locked into a single ecosystem. The open web matters more now because AI is reshaping how people experience the internet: a small number of platforms increasingly act as gateways to search, content, and AI-powered services, making it easier for a few companies to shape what people see and how they interact online. Those principles have driven innovation for decades, and they're just as important as AI transforms the web. The challenge is to make sure openness evolves alongside AI, so the next generation of the internet remains competitive, interoperable, and accessible to everyone. This means that as AI becomes integrated into browsers, it must still rely on open protocols and allow users to switch providers, rather than tying them to a single ecosystem.
The biggest risk isn't AI itself but concentration. If the same companies control the AI models, the interface people use to access them, and the browser they interact through, users lose visibility, choice, and ultimately agency. That's a much bigger shift than a typical technology generation change, because it would give one entity the power to determine which services are surfaced and how information is presented. Developers want open standards, regulators are paying closer attention to competition, and users are asking tougher questions about transparency and control. The web has survived disruption because it's built on interoperability rather than permission, meaning that no one has to ask to build or connect. AI could strengthen that model, or it could replace it with a handful of closed ecosystems. The outcome depends on whether the industry resists vertical integration across models, interfaces, and browsers, but there are encouraging signs that the issue is being taken seriously.
Firefox differentiates through independence, choice, and accountability. It's the only major browser powered by the independent Gecko engine, which gives Mozilla the freedom to make product decisions based on what benefits users rather than a larger tech ecosystem spanning search, advertising, and AI. This independence means Firefox is not beholden to a parent company's commercial interests, so features can be designed around user needs rather than corporate goals. That independence has commercial traction: Firefox has been selected through EU browser choice screens more than six million times in two years, and those users are five times more likely to stay with Firefox than people who find it organically. Societally, independent engines prevent one company's technical and commercial priorities from becoming the default for the entire web. Varma argues this preserves competition, interoperability, and the ability to build around different values, which is why the independent engine matters not just for Mozilla but for the health of the web as a whole.
Over the next five years, browsers will start to diverge significantly in how they treat AI, predicts Ajit Varma. Many companies will use the browser to push a specific AI agenda, but Firefox is focused on how AI can make the tasks users want to do better. Varma envisions a personal agent that helps accomplish tasks, navigating the web through voice, making the web more enjoyable, and enabling new vibe-coded extensions and mini-apps. Crucially, the browser should adapt to the user rather than the other way around. Some users will want AI integrated into everyday browsing, others will prefer it for specific tasks. Maintaining trust means supporting those preferences and letting people decide how much AI they use. Users should be able to choose any model they want, including open and local models.
Regulation is showing some encouraging signs, says Ajit Varma. The impact of browser choice screens in Europe demonstrates that people choose alternatives when they are presented fairly and not steered toward a default. However, AI is creating a new concentration risk: if the same small group of companies controls the operating system, browser, search engine, and AI model, they can shape how people access information and which services they encounter. Regulation needs to keep pace not only with AI development but with how AI is distributed and embedded into everyday products. Varma cautions that regulation alone can't fix the problem; interoperability, genuine defaults, and strong technical competition will matter just as much. The EU's choice screens are a model for restoring meaningful choice.
Trust starts with being clear about what the technology is doing. AI should be optional, transparent, and designed so users can understand what information it can access, how it’s being used, and who is acting on their behalf. That is the principle behind Firefox's AI Controls: every AI feature is optional and can be managed individually, with an option to disable all generative AI features at once. For features such as Link Previews and Smart Tab Groups, Firefox runs models on-device, so users receive AI assistance without any data leaving their computer. This means the browser can summarise pages or organise tabs without sending sensitive content to a remote server. Trust is earned through consistent transparency and respecting people's decisions. Users have told Mozilla that they value knowing the controls are there, even if they don't use them.
Success, according to Ajit Varma, is a web that has become more useful through AI without becoming less open. Technology should expand what's possible, not narrow the ways people can access information, build new ideas, or participate online. Innovation should continue to come from everywhere, not just a handful of dominant platforms. The web has always been at its best when anyone with a good idea can build something that reaches millions of people. That only happens when developers have open standards to build on and users aren't locked into a single ecosystem. Varma hopes the web remains the best place to build, discover, and innovate because it stays accessible to everyone. If AI has expanded participation rather than concentrated power, he says, we'll be heading in the right direction.
Where this came from. This breakdown is based on source material published at techradar.com. Images above are used with the credits shown beneath each one.
An internal review found 1,427 alerts, 1,000+ false positives, and a police supervisor who knew the plate mistake by heart – the reason points to a privacy tradeoff.
Meta's virtual reality division keeps bleeding billions even after Horizon Worlds was mothballed — here's where the money goes and what comes next.
Soummaih Hydara's data-sharing decision reveals the real cost: longtime account holders can be flagged without warning, and the trade-off between bot prevention and privacy is far from settled.