Mozilla’s new CEO says AI is coming to Firefox, but it will remain an option

Mozilla has appointed Anthony Enzor-DeMeo as its CEO, as the Firefox maker seeks to adapt to the rapidly changing browser market.

The appointment comes at a time when web browsers are seeing a revitalization of sorts as artificial intelligence changes how people use the Internet. After more than a decade of dominating the market, companies like Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple’s Safari are facing a new challenge from companies like Perplexity, Arc, OpenAI, and Opera, which are focused on integrating AI models and agents into their browsers to bring AI to users at their first point of Internet connection: the web browser.

These changes do not appear to be absent from Mozilla, which is made up of several organizations. One is the Mozilla Corporation, which develops Firefox and other technologies, and the other is the tax-exempt, non-profit Mozilla Foundation, which oversees Mozilla’s corporate governance structure and sets the browser maker’s policies.

The company has been going through a tough time recently: It went through a restructuring, and last year it laid off 30% of its staff and dropped its advocacy and global programs.

But the company doesn’t seem to have lost its ability to make a comeback amid the modern browser wars. Mozilla will invest in artificial intelligence and add AI features to Firefox, Enzor-DeMeo said in a blog post announcing his appointment.

However, Mozilla seems intent on not angering users who choose Firefox with its lack of AI features: Enzor-DeMeo said the company will make AI features optional within Firefox and its other products.

“AI should always be an option — something people can easily turn off. People should know why a feature works the way it does and what value they get from it,” he wrote.

The company will also invest in diversifying its revenue beyond search (in exchange for making Google its default search engine, Mozilla generates a significant portion of its revenue from the search giant), and Enzor-DeMeo said Mozilla plans to flesh Firefox into a “broader ecosystem of trusted software.”

Currently, the company is also developing the Thunderbird email client, a VPN, and last year launched an AI-powered website builder aimed at small businesses.

Prior to this appointment, Enzor-DeMeo was General Manager of Firefox, and now takes over as interim CEO, Laura Chambers, who has been in that role for the past two years. Enzor-DeMeo previously held product roles at Roofstock, Better and Wayfair.