Mozilla Invests $30 Million to Build a Safer and More Transparent AI Ecosystem

Mozilla, the company behind the popular web browser Firefox, is putting $30 million into building its own AI ecosystem to rival competitors at Google and Microsoft. 

The company is not trying to outdo either of the tech giants but, rather, is looking to create AI tools that are safe, transparent, and helpful. Mozilla says that the "big tech and cloud companies with the most power and influence" over the market are not interested in building open-source and trustworthy AI products. 

Mozilla's looking to change that before "incumbents continue to consolidate their control over the market." To that end, the officially-named Mozilla.ai will hopefully be a space outside big tech for "like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers, and builders to gather."

"We believe that this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide to create an independent, decentralized, and trustworthy AI ecosystem—a real counterweight to the status quo," the company wrote in the blog post announcing the investment. 

If you want more concrete details as to the nature of Mozilla's AI tools, you will have to wait a bit longer. The company is playing it close to the chest, only saying that they are making "safer and more transparent" generative AI products emphasizing recommendation systems that do not misinform or undermine our well-being. They call it "people-centric" AI. 

Mozilla.ai is spearheaded by Managing Director Moez Draief and overseen by a board of tech luminaries. The company says we will know more about the actual products they are developing in the coming months.