Firefox, Firefox Focus, Safari and other Apps on iPhone screen

The buttons of the internet browser app Firefox, surrounded by Safari and other apps on the screen of an iPhone. (Getty Images)

FIREWALL

Firefox will soon let users block AI features in its browser

As Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge ramp up AI offerings, Firefox is betting people will want an off switch.

Millie Giles

When the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation launched Firefox back in 2004, its mission was to provide the online world with a secure, open source alternative to the web’s then-dominant browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Cut to a little over two decades later, and Firefox is still trying to set itself apart in the crowded browser landscape. On Monday, Mozilla announced in a blog post that a new “AI control” update to Firefox will enable users to toggle individual AI features on and off, such as translations, enhanced tab grouping, and its built-in AI chatbot.

Bot com bubble?

The preference settings will be available on Firefox 148, which launches on Feb. 24, and will allow users to “block current and future generative AI features” and “review and manage” these at their discretion. The pivot towards opting in for AI comes at a time when leading browsers are increasingly building the tech into their products as the default.

Browser market share 2026 chart — Sherwood News

Just last week, Google unveiled plans to embed more Gemini-powered AI features into Chrome — the biggest web browser today by some way, commanding an almost monopolistic ~71% share of the market, per Statcounter. These include image generator tool Nano Banana, an “Auto browse” feature, and a chatbot panel in its viewing window.

While Microsoft retired Internet Explorer in 2022 after a precipitous drop in usage, the company’s hoping that an experimental AI-powered Copilot Mode in its Edge browser will help it catch up with competitors. Apple’s Safari, the second-biggest web browser by market share at (a still much smaller) 15%, has also recently outlined plans to offer AI-powered searches.

Before this new announcement, even Firefox itself had spent the past year trying to draw consumers with newfangled AI tools, like its “shake to summarize” iPhone feature, released last September. Rather than fighting a losing battle against tech giants like Google, maybe Mozilla now thinks that appealing to the cohort that wants less to do with artificial intelligence might help it to win back at least some search engine purists.

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Tesla and Google’s Waymo to Senate committee: Fix self-driving laws or China will win

Ahead of their appearances Wednesday at a Senate committee hearing on the future of self-driving, the two biggest names in the sector, Tesla and Google’s Waymo, are talking the same book.

Both companies are warning lawmakers that without a federal framework for autonomous vehicles — something Congress has debated for years and is now considering again as part of broader transportation legislation — China will seize the lead.

“The United States is locked in a global race with Chinese AV companies for the future of autonomous driving, a trillion-dollar industry comparable in strategic importance to flight and space travel,” Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña said in written remarks ahead of the event. “In the absence of US leadership on a national AV legislative framework, Chinese AV competitors will fill the gap and set the safety and technical standards for the rest of the world.”

Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy, for his part, wrote, “If the US does not lead in AV development, other nations — particularly China — will shape the technology, standards, and global market.” He added, “China will be the dominant manufacturer of transportation for the 21st century.”

The two companies face steep competition from Chinese firms, including Baidu, which operates a robotaxi service, and BYD, whose EVs offer driver assistance technology similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and which has been outselling the US automaker.

Hit the Road, Mac: The Future of Self-Driving Cars

$126B

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Waymo is now worth $126 billion, after raising $16 billion in a funding round led by its parent company, Google. With this capital, Waymo plans to expand its robotaxi service to more than 20 new cities, including international markets.

On Wednesday, Waymo’s chief safety officer will testify at a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing, alongside a representative for Tesla, urging lawmakers to create a national regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles.

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Dan Ives thinks Tesla will someday merge with SpaceX, too

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives is just like us: he thinks that Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX could someday become one company.

In a note this morning, Ives argued there’s a “growing chance” Tesla will eventually merge in some form with newly merged SpaceX and xAI, as Musk builds what he sees as a single, sprawling AI ecosystem spanning both space and Earth.

Over time, Ives wrote, he thinks Musk will look to “combine forces/technologies,” with the long-term goal of owning and controlling more of the AI stack. Ives thinks Musk could achieve that “holy grail” over the next year and a half.

Earlier today, we pointed out the myriad similarities between Tesla and SpaceX — shared impossible missions, common methods for achieving those goals, and a physics-first, economics-later ethos — as well as Musk’s long-standing penchant for knitting his companies together in the first place.